Ludwig II and Anton Pössenbacher, Munich Cabinet-maker to the Bavarian Court
Anton Pössenbacher (1842-1920), cabinet-maker to the Bavarian court in Munich, was head of one of the largest late nineteenth-century German makers of luxury furnishings. His furniture designs, especially those for King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1871-1886), represent German Historicism at its zenith. Pössenbacher created almost all the furnishings for the royal apartments at Linderhof, Herrenchiemsee and Neuschwanstein. Intricately carved and lavishly upholstered in gold brocade and dazzling embroidered pictures, these furnishings are highlights in the sumptuous interiors of Bavarian castles. Made to the specifications of an exacting monarch, these masterpieces of the cabinet-maker’s craft have lost nothing of their original fascination. Not content with resting on his laurels in Bavaria, Anton Pössenbacher also designed for other rulers, such as King Charles I of Romania, for whom he designed an elegant palace library in Bucharest (1887). Pössenbacher’s clients also included industrialists, merchants and landed gentry, for whose town houses and manors he created entire rooms.
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