Born in
Parabiago in 1738, Giuseppe Maggiolini was the son of the forester
Gilardo
Maggiolini and his wife Caterina Cavalleri. In his childhood,
Maggiolini worked
with his father, under the rely of the Cistercian monks, by the
Sant'Ambrogio
della Vittoria convent. At the age of 18 he began to work as a
carpenter and
some years later he openned his first carpentry. In 1765, the Marquis
Pompeo
Litta assigned him the achievement of one “canterano” of his own Villa
Litta.
At the end of the work, the beauty of the art he created was ever more
beautiful than the original project, then he begun to work for the Hapsburg Court. He worked there for the most
important families of Milan and for the most part of the European
courts. Maggiolini specialized him-self in the achievement of the chest
of
drawers. His fornitures, realized with pure geometric lines, with a
sober
neoclassical taste, were decorated with inlay that rapresented
mythological,
allegorical or chinese characters. The new ruler brought to Italy the fashions and a new kind of
fonitures, made of mahogany and brass. Giuseppe had to adapt at this
new wave
of the art. Napoleon liked the Parabiago art quite immediately, and
invited
Maggiolini to work for the Bonaparte family. He worked for Napoleone
only for
four years, and in 1809 he left spontaneously because of the growing
dislikes
for the french regime. Giuseppe Maggiolini died the 16
November 1814
in Parabiago, at the age of 76 years.
