ITALIAN

A hallmark of Gothic Revival furniture is the colourful painted decoration, as seen in the present daybed which is an early example of the style. The blue-painted trefoils and multi-foils with gilt cusps encircled by interlacing roundels of the seat-frame recall the architectural device often associated wit the arch of Gothic stained-glass windows. This motif was similarly reiterated in the decoration of the room where the present lot was almost certainly placed-- the Camera gotica at the Villa Torlonia.
The room was one many restored by Prince Alessandro (1800-1886), the third-born of John Torlonia and heir to the family fortune, who both preserved and expanded the Villa under the guidance of architect Giovan Battista Caretti. The Camera gotica was a rather small yet spectacular space. Alessandro had the walls and ceilings painted trompe l'oeil fashion to re-create a Gothic interior with arches, columns, and multi-foil roundels, interspersed with stained-glass windows by Giovan Battista Bertini (who similarly supplied stained-glass windows for the Duomo di Milano). The original furniture for the camera, which was later exhibited at the Exhibition of Nineteenth-Century Rome in the Sala Torlonia, is reported to have mirrored the decoration. (A. Campitelli, Villa Torlonia: L'Ultima Impresa del Mecentasimo Romano, 1993, pp. 107-110).
Two further chairs very likely from the same suite, were also previously in the Roger Collection. One of the chairs reappeared for sale at Christie's New York March 2001.