While there is an evident similarity to the work of Piffetti, the decoration and architecture point to Galletti. 

The influence of Piffetti can be found at the top, resembling the combined desk and bookcase produced for the Duke of Chiablese,¹ from which the fan dotted with beads is repeated almost identically. This is an arch with two juxtaposed wings decorated with lobes from which a small leaf emerges to create the effect of a succession of high waves with crests of foam. The lobes are dotted with beads of diminishing size. It should be noted that the number of beads in each lobe varies outwards from the centre so as to follow the curve: first three, then four, then three again and finally just one. This pattern is the same in both the Chiablese desk and the Cerruti. The design of the central shell and the decorative elements of inlaid ivory in the moulding of the cornice are also similar (fig. 1). 

While this desk has elements that resemble the work of, the decoration as a whole bears the hallmark of Galletti. The deciding factor is comparison with the drop-leaf desk in the Palazzina di Caccia at Stupinigi, documented as the work of Galletti in 1775.² In both cases, the general decorative system is based on series of mixtilinear boxwood frames formed by elongated S-shapes joined by small leaves of ivory scattered over the surface in a delightfully whimsical but rigorous pattern. In the Cerruti desk, the S-shaped lines are outlined in ivory alternately on the inside and outside (fig. 2). 

Moreover, in both cases the drop leaf presents a large floral motif of similar design, albeit more complex in the Stupinigi desk due to the combination of ivory and shadowed, coloured woods with a fine pictorial effect. 

The Cerruti desk therefore demonstrates how a few of Piffetti’s decorative elements influenced the decorative and architectural structure of Galletti’s work, which justifies attribution to the latter. 

How are we to account for this? Giovanni Galletti succeeded Piffetti as royal cabinetmaker immediately after the latter’s death on 20 May 1777. The deed of appointment is dated 30 May and its terms are the same as regards duties, remuneration, accommodation and workshop. Galletti thus moved from Venaria, where he was born and had a workshop, into the premises formerly occupied by Piffetti in the Palazzo della Regia Università, which housed not only the university but also some sections for carpentry. The joiner Carlo Maria Ugliengo, who worked with the architect Juvarra on numerous projects and made models of buildings under his supervision, also worked there and indeed lived in an apartment on the mezzanine floor just like Piffetti. The university building, therefore, was also an artistic hub providing accommodation and workshops for the leading royal craftsmen. It is possible that Galletti found the upper section there among the items already commenced and either adapted it to his own style or combined it with an existing lower section of his own. In fact, there is some evidence that the desk and the upper section of the piece may have been joined together, in that the latter rests on and partially conceals the boxwood frame of the drop leaf, which appears, instead, to have been designed for full display to the eye given its sophisticated covering of kingwood in a butterfly-wing pattern with a splendid central rosette and multiple corollas. The same is also found on the sides of the desk but not of the upper section. 

Giovanni Galletti (1735-1819) was born at Venaria and lived and worked there until 1777, when he was appointed as Piffetti’s successor at the age of forty-two and moved to Turin with his wife and seven children. He may well have been noted at Venaria by a courtier, or even the king himself, and won royal favour. Like his predecessors, Vittorio Amedeo III had used the great hunting lodge not only as a place for frequent stays but also as an authentic second palace parallel to the one in Turin. Many of his decrees were indeed issued from there. 

As shown by the 1792 census of arts and crafts, Galletti had just two assistants in his workshop. He worked for the ruling house from 1771 to 1818 with a large gap in documentation corresponding to the republican period. Only about ten of his works can be recognised from the records and most of them still await identification. He died on 24 March 1819 “of old age”, having lived for eighty-three years and six months. 

Galletti can be regarded as a leading practitioner in Turin of two styles, namely the “transitional” and the Neoclassical, an artist who assimilated the example of Paris in accordance with a personal formula of considerable charm. The records for his output in the 1770s include chests of drawers with an arched profile, volute-shaped feet and other remnants of the late Baroque alongside others with ornamentation already “in the Greek style”. The new style was fully established as from 1780. In about half a century, he produced some ninety pieces, many of which for Agliè, the various apartments of the dukes of Chiablese, Palazzo Reale, Venaria, Moncalieri and Rivoli. There are a surprising number of prayer stools (14) and prie-dieus (6), but also tables large and small, cabinets for papers, bookcases, corner cupboards, boxes and backgammon sets as well as small items like a truffle cutter (8 lire in 1798) and wooden inkwells. 

Galletti also restored some pieces by Piffetti, including the small “Geography for Children” table now in Palazzo Madama, the secretary desk in the Palazzo del Quirinale and the tabernacle in the royal chapel. Galletti was succeeded as royal cabinetmaker by his son Carlo, on whose death in 1832 the position specially created for Piffetti in 1731 was abolished. 

Roberto Antonetto 

¹ Antonetto 2010, vol. I, pp. 258-263. 

² Ibid., pp. 286-287.