Last 19th Century Sofa & Armchairs Carved Walnut by Testolini Salviati, Venice

Performed restorative conservation and remake upholstery

Measure sofa in cm: H8547 L148 D57
Measure armchairs in cm: H8547 L57 D57

“From OADI, observatory for the decorative arts in Italy. N. 14 December 2016”

The Testolini Brothers saw their birth in Venice in 1847. The company grew and became strong their position in the market in a period of enormous cultural and productive ferment for the lagoon capital VENICE

The reputation of the company grew thanks to the partnership established with the company since the dawn Antonio Salviati, founded in London in 1866 by Antonio Salviati, the diplomat Sir Austen Henry Layard and the historian William Drake8. This bond was further strengthened in 1896, when for a period of economic stagnation the Salviati, the Testolini, the Jesurum and other smaller companies operating in Venice, decided to merge under the name of Salviati & Co. Jesurum Important to note is that, although formally Testolini the Brothers see disappear from the header your name, the latter from that year is still reported in all commercial guides just below the principal name, with the specification of their production of artistic furniture, given that further shows how the company and its activities were important.

As we have said before, the Testolini creations were also spread globally, and such furnishings have a certain success among the most visible audience: a flashy example is the pair of chairs of our interest once present, along with Other furnishings of Testolini, in the castle of Moulbaox in Belgium, owned by the important family of Counts of Ursel and although purchased when the Brother Testolini had ceased their activity, they had to have a huge resonance of the pair of armchairs chosen by Marilin Monroe for his Home of Los Angeles and immortalized with her by Allan Grant in July 1962, to accompany the article centred on her by Richard Meryman13, (Fig. 13).