Chairs
ca. 1785â1790
Classification
furniture
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Museum purchase through gift of various donors and from Eleanor G. Hewitt Fund
Accession Number
1938-88-2050
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Giuseppe Barberi, a Italian architect and designer (6–1809), these *Chairs* around 1785–1790, during the peak of Neoclassicism in Rome. Barberi was renowned for his elegant furniture designs that drew inspiration from ancient Roman and Greek motifs, blending symmetry, proportion, and refined ornamentation. Working in the late 18th century, contributed to the shift from opulent Baroque styles toward the cleaner, more intellectual aesthetic of Neoclassicism, which emphasized antiquity and rationality amid Europe's Enlightenment era. As functional art, these chairs exemplify Barberi's mastery of...