Center Table with Micromosaic Top, "Love Triumphant" (table c. 1865; top c.1830–50): Art, History and Details

Center Table with Micromosaic Top, "Love Triumphant" (table c. 1865; top c.1830–50) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Agostino Francesangeli (Italian); Herter Brothers (American).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This table once graced the home of William J. Gordon (1818-1892), probably best known for the bequest of the site of his residence to the city of Cleveland, to create Gordon Park. He is known to have visited Europe in 1865 and it is reported that the top of this table was purchased in Rome from Agostino Francesangeli. Its pictorial design, executed in micromosaic (a mosaic made from tiny glass tesserae, or tiles), is based on a decoration at the Villa Lante thought to have been painted by the great Italian Renaissance artist, Raphael (1483-1520). After he returned home, Gordon probably commissioned the wooden table itself to be made by the New York firm of Herter Brothers.

Object facts

• Title: Center Table with Micromosaic Top, "Love Triumphant"
• Date: table c. 1865; top c.1830–50
• Creator attribution: Agostino Francesangeli (Italian); Herter Brothers (American)
• Culture: Italy, Rome
• Type: Furniture and woodwork
• Technique: walnut with gilding and gilt-metal mounts, inlaid ornament, and mosaic top
• Dimensions: Overall: 76.2 x 108.5 cm (30 x 42 11/16 in.)
• Collection: Furniture
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1998.19

Collection credit

Bequest of William J. Gordon

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.