NAPLES, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

These elegant armchairs, with their neoclassical carving and outscrolled backrests, reflect a synthesis of two types of typically Neapolitan seat furniture from the early 19th Century. The first type can be seen in the examples made by Luigi Vanvitelli for the Royal Palace of Caserta. The second type, with averted backs, now also in the Royal Palace of Caserta, are seen in the illustrated painting by Charles, conte di Clarac in the Praz Collection, Rome. This similar example appears almost in profile in the painting of Caroline Murat’s study in the Royal Palace of Naples, capturing the synthesised form of the present examples.
A similar armchair of comparable form is in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples and further similar examples are illustrated in E. Colle, Il mobile impero in Italia, Milan, 1998, pp. 50-51 and106-107.