Giuseppe Maggiolini

Though some of his early work is Late Baroque in manner, his name is particularly associated with blocky neoclassical forms veneered with richly detailed marquetry vignettes, often within complicated borders.

[2] Born in Parabiago, near Milan, he was the son of Gilardo Maggiolini, a forester in the service of the Cistercian monastery of Sant'Ambrogio della Vittoria, and after apprenticeship in a woodworking shop he opened his own bottega in the town's central piazza, which today bears his name.

Named intarsiatore to the Habsburg granducal court, by 1780 Maggiolini in his turn was able to commission from Piermarini a new façade for the Church of Saints Gervasio and Protasio in his natal Parabiago, and from Albertolli its internal redecoration.

With the introduction of the more severe Empire style, featuring sober mahogany relieved by gilt-bronze mounts, and the flight of his patron the Archduke in 1796, Maggiolini was forced to retrench.

Drawings from the workshop, which was continued by his son Carlo Francesco in partnership with Cherubino Mezzanzanica (died 1866), are in the Fondo Maggioliniano in the Antique Furniture & Wooden Sculpture Museum of Sforza Castle, Milan.