Description


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 after he openned his first carpentry. In 1765, the Marquis Pompeo Litta assigned to 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 collaborated for the decorations of the wedding feast of the archduke Ferdinando d'Austria, son of the empress Maria Teresa d'Asburgo, beginning to work for the Hapsburg Court. Indeed in 1771, he realized the floor of the Court's Palace in Milan, that had been renovated in that time. The archduke gave him the title of man of the inlay of the Hapsburg Court. He started now to be famous, and his name was known in all the European court. That's why the name Maggiolini is associated to the ebony decorations of the fornitures. The most typical are: bedside tables, cabinets, caskets and jewel box. He worked 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, using almost 86 kind of different wood. His fornitures, realized with pure geometric lines, as the sober neoclassical taste, were decorated with inlay with mythological, allegorical or chinese characters. They were fornitures for all the rooms: for the bedroom, the livingroom, the bathroom and so on. He worked in this way also for the paintings and for the interior main doors. In 1796, his patron, the archduke Ferdinando, let the power to the revolutionary French. 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. He left the carpentry to his son Francesco, pupils of Cherubino Mezzanzanica.

Audioguide

 
Listen to the audioguide


Download the audioguide (file mp3)

Deepening

Video
30%
Audio
30%
E-Book
30%
Photo
30%
Other links
30%

Seguici su FacebookSeguici su twitterSeguici su web album di PicasaSeguici su FlickrSeguici su You Tube