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(c) 2011 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Desk with Two Side Cabinets (Scrivania con due mobili da appoggio)
(c) 2011 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
(c) 2011 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Desk with Two Side Cabinets (Scrivania con due mobili da appoggio)

furniture maker
Date1750-1799
Place MadeVenice, Veneto, Italy, Europe
MediumPainted walnut and pine
ClassificationsFurniture
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberF11n17.a-e
eMuseum ID722190
EmbARK ObjectID15292
Original NumberF11n17
TMS Source ID3885
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on view
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner used the Macknight Room as her personal study, and this was her desk. She kept a treasure trove of collectibles and memorabilia inside.

This type of small desk with associated side cabinets was common amongst the furnishings of Italian country villas in the Veneto in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The delicate palette and diminutive size, suggest that it was made for a woman or child.

Isabella's husband, Jack Gardner, purchased this desk for her in Venice on one of their many trips to the lagoon city.

BibliographyNotesGilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 70. (19th century)
Fausto Calderai and Alan Chong. Furnishing a Museum: Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Collection of Italian Furniture (Boston, 2011), pp. 80-81, no. 19.
ProvenanceNotesProbably purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner's husband, John L. Gardner, Jr. (1837–1898), from the dealer Domenico Lorenzetti, Venice on 6 September 1892 for 150 lire.