PROBABLY NAPLES, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

When these armchairs were sold in 1984, the sale catalogue noted that they were from the collection of Princesse Murat. This reference is probably to Princess Caroline, Napoleon's youngest sister, born in 1782 and married to Joachim Murat in 1800. Joachim Murat became one of Napoleon's most celebrated marshals and was appointed King of Naples in 1808 until his death in 1815. With their precise carving and somewhat slender frame, these chairs relate visually to other known examples of seat furniture made for Caroline Murat in the Palazzo Reale in Naples, which the couple immediately started renovating upon their arrival in Naples in 1808. This renovation was overseen by the architects Antonio De Simone and Etienne-Chérubin Lecomte, and employed artisans such as the chairmaker Pietro Galizia, the carver Giuseppe Antonio Di Gregorio, the gilders Giovanni Pittarelli and Baldassare Facciola, among others. For examples of related chairs from the Palazzo Reale, see E. Colle, Il Mobile Impero in Italia, Milan, 1998, pp. 50 - 51.