DETAIL OF TRIPOD TABLE FOUND AT POMPEII.DETAIL OF TRIPOD TABLE FOUND AT POMPEII.(At Naples Museum.)
These, among a thousand other signs of the extraordinary spirit of classicism which possessed France, show how deep rooted had become the idea of a modern Republic that should emulate the fame of Athens and of Rome. The FirstConsul favoured these ideas, and his portraits represent him with a laurel wreath around his head posing as a Cæsar.
SERVANTE.By kind permission from the collection of Dr. Sigerson, Dublin.SERVANTE.Marble top; supported on two ormolu legs elaborately chased with figures of Isis. Panelled at back with glass mirror.FRENCH; LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
In transition days before the style known as Empire had become fixed there is exhibited in art a feeling which suggests the deliberate search after new forms and new ideas. To this period belongs theservante, which, by the kindness of Dr. Sigerson, of Dublin, is reproduced from his collection.The claw-foot, the ram's head, the bay-leaf, and a frequent use of caryatides and animal forms, is a common ornamentation in furniture of the Empireperiod. In this specimen the two legs of ormolu have these characteristics, and it is noticeable that the shape of the leg and its details of ornament bear a striking resemblance to the leg of the Pompeiian table illustrated (p.205). But the deities of Egypt have contributed a new feature in the seated figure of the goddess Isis.
JEWEL CABINET OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE.JEWEL CABINET OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE.Made on the occasion of her marriage with the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1810.(At Fontainebleau.)
Napoleon himself encouraged the classic spirit which killed all memories of anancien régime. He would have been pleased to see all the relics of the former glories of France demolished. He had at one time a project to rebuild Versailles as a classic temple.
At the height of his splendour he became the patron of the fine arts, and attempted to leave his impression upon art as he did upon everything else. New furniture was designed for the Imperial palaces. Riesener was alive, but it does not appear that he took any part in the new creations. David, the great French painter, an ardent Republican, was won over to become a Court painter. At Malmaison and at Fontainebleau there are many fine examples of the First Empire period which, however, cannot be regarded as the most artistic in French furniture. Preserved at Fontainebleau is the jewel cabinet, made by Thomire and Odiot, at the Emperor's orders as a wedding gift, in 1810, to the Empress Marie Louise, in emulation of the celebrated Riesener cabinet at the Trianon. The wood used for this, and for most of the Empire cabinets, is rich mahogany, which affords a splendid ground for the bronze gilt mounts (seep.207).
The portrait of Madame Récamier, by David, which is in the Louvre, given as headpiece to this chapter, shows the severe style of furniture in use at the zenith of the Empire period. The couch follows classic models, and the tall candelabrum is a suggestion from Herculaneum models.
The influence that this classic revival had upon furniture in this country is told in a subsequent chapter. In regard to costume, the gowns of the First Empire period have become quite fashionable in recent years.
Although this style of furniture degenerated into commonplace designs with affectedly hard outlines, it had a considerable vogue. In addition to the influence it had upon the brothers Adam and upon Sheraton, it left its trace on English furniture up till the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The chair illustrated (p.210) is about the year 1800 in date. There is presumptive evidence that this chair was made in Bombay after European design. It is of rosewood, carved in relief with honeysuckle and floral design. The scrolled ends of the top rail show at once its French derivation.
In the national collections in this country there are very few specimens of Empire furniture. The Duke of Wellington has some fine examples at Apsley House, treasured relics of its historic associations with the victor of Waterloo. The demand in France, for furniture of the First Empire style has in all probability denuded the open market of many fine specimens. Owing to the fact that this country was at war with France when the style was at its height,the number of Empire pieces imported was very limited, nor does First Empire furniture seem to have greatly captivated the taste of English collectors, as among the records of sales of furniture by public auction very little has come under the hammer.
ARMCHAIR, ROSEWOOD.By kind permission of the Rev. H. V. Le Bas.ARMCHAIR, ROSEWOOD.Carved in relief with honeysuckle pattern. Formerly in possession of the Duke of Newcastle.ENGLISH; LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
TABLE MADE BY CHIPPENDALE.By permission of the proprietors of the "Connoisseur."TABLE MADE BY CHIPPENDALE.(Height, 293/8in.; width, 323/8in.; depth, 215/8in.)
George I.1714-1727.Horace Walpole built Strawberry Hill (1750)Sir William Chambers (1726-1796) built Pagoda at Kew about 1760.Chippendale'sDirectorpublished (1754).George II.1727-1760.George III.1760-1820.
Horace Walpole built Strawberry Hill (1750)
Sir William Chambers (1726-1796) built Pagoda at Kew about 1760.
Chippendale'sDirectorpublished (1754).
Thomas Chippendale, the master cabinetmaker of St. Martin's Lane, has left a name which, like that ofBoule, has become a trade term to mark a certain style in furniture. With the dawn of the age of mahogany, Chippendale produced designs that were especially adapted to the new wood; he relied solely upon the delicate carving for ornament, and rejected all inlay.
Discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh, who brought specimens home with him, mahogany did not come into general use till about 1720. The material then used by Chippendale and his school was the splendid mahogany from the great untouched forests, producing at that time timber the like of which, in dimension and in quality, is now unprocurable. The cheaper "Honduras stuff" was then unknown, and English crews landed and cut timber from the Spanish possessions in spite of the protests of the owners. Many a stiff fight occurred, and many lives were lost in shipping this stolen mahogany to England to supply the demand for furniture. These nefarious proceedings more than once threatened to bring about war between England and Spain.
The furniture of France, during the four great periods treated in the previous chapters, was designed for the use of the nobility. One wonders what furniture was in common use by the peasantry in France. In England, too, much of the furniture left for the examination of posterity was made for the use of the wealthy classes. In Jacobean days, settles and chairs, especially the Yorkshire and Derbyshire types, were in more common use, and the homely pieces of Queen Anne suggest less luxurious surroundings, but it was left for Chippendaleto impress his taste upon all classes. In the title-page of his great work, theDirector, publishedin 1754, he says that his designs are "calculated to improve and refine the present taste, and suited to the fancy and circumstances of persons in all degrees of life."
OLIVER GOLDSMITH'S CHAIR.OLIVER GOLDSMITH'S CHAIR.Wood, painted green, with circular seat, carved arms, and high back. Bequeathed by Oliver Goldsmith in 1774 to his friend, Dr. Hawes.(Bethnal Green Museum.)
His book of designs, as may naturally be supposed, was not greatly bought by the working classes, but fifteen copies of theDirectorwent to Yorkshire, and many other copies were subscribed for in other parts of the country, so that local cabinetmakers began at once to fashion their furniture after his styles.
The common form of chair at the time was similar to the specimen illustrated (p.215), which formerly belonged to Oliver Goldsmith, and was bequeathed by him to his friend, Dr. Hawes. This is of soft wood, probably beech, painted green, with circular seat, curved arms, and high back. Chippendale revolutionised this inartistic style, and for the first time in the history of the manufacture of furniture in England, continental makers turned their eyes to this country in admiration of the style in vogue here, and in search of new designs.
It might appear, on a hasty glance at some of Chippendale's work, that originality was not his strong point. His claw-and-ball feet were not his own, and he borrowed them and the wide, spacious seats of his chairs from the Dutch, or from earlier English furniture under Dutch influence.
CHIPPENDALE SETTEE; WALNUT.By permission of the proprietors of the "Connoisseur."CHIPPENDALE SETTEE; WALNUT. ABOUT 1740.(From the collection of Sir W. E. Welby-Gregory, Bart.)
Sir William Chambers, the architect of Somerset House, whose fondness for Chinese ornament produced quite a craze, and who built the Pagoda in Kew Gardens, gave Chippendale another source of inspiration. In his later days he came under theinfluence of the Gothic revival and was tempted to misuse Gothic ornament.
CHIPPENDALE SETTEE, OAK.By permission of the proprietors of the "Connoisseur."CHIPPENDALE SETTEE, OAK. ABOUT 1740.(By courtesy of V. J. Robinson, Esq., C.I.E.)
His second style shows the Louis XIV. French decoration in subjection. In his ribbon-back chairs he employed the Louis XVI. ornamentation.
But Chippendale was the most masterly adapter that England has ever produced. His adaptions became original under his hand, and his creations are sturdy and robust, tempered by French subtleties, and having, here and there, as in the fretwork in the chair-legs and angles, a suggestion of the East. He is the prince of chair-makers. His chairs are never unsymmetrical. He knew the exact proportion of ornament that the structure would gracefully bear. The splats in the chairs he made himself are of such accurate dimensions in relation to the open spaces on each side that this touch alone betrays the hand of the master, which is absent in the imitations of his followers.
The illustration given of the Chippendale table in Chinese style (p.213), is a beautiful and perfect piece of a type rarely met with. It was made by Chippendale for the great-grandmother of the present owner. A similar table was in the possession of the Princess Josephine. In chairs, the back was sometimes of fret-cut work, as was also the design of the legs, with fretwork in the angles, which betray his fondness for the Chinese models. The Gothic style influenced Chippendale only to a slight degree. Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill set the fashion in England, which fortunately was short-lived.
Collectors divide Chippendale's work into threeperiods. To the first they assign the more solid chairs or settees with cabriole legs and Louis XIV. ornament, harmoniously blended with Queen Anne style. These chairs and settees are often found with claw-and-ball feet, and are frequently of walnut. Two fine examples of settees, the one of oak, the other of walnut, are illustrated.
RIBBON PATTERN. CHIPPENDALE CHAIR-BACK.RIBBON PATTERN. CHIPPENDALE CHAIR-BACK.(From the "Director.")
The second period embraces the fine creations which have the celebrated Louis XVI. ribbon ornamentation in the backs. From one of the designs in Chippendale's book, here illustrated, the elegance of the style is shown. It is exuberant enough, but the author complains in his volume that "In executing many of these drawings, my pencil has but faintly carved out those images my fancy suggested; but in this failure I console myself by reflecting that the greatest masters of every art have laboured under the same difficulties." The ribbon-backed chair illustrated (p.223) is one of the two given to an ancestor of the present owner by the fourth Duke of Marlborough in 1790. They wereformerly at Blenheim, and there is an added interest in them owing to the fact that the seats were worked by Sarah, the great Duchess of Marlborough.
RIBBON-BACKED CHIPPENDALE CHAIR.By permission of the proprietors of the "Connoisseur."RIBBON-BACKED CHIPPENDALE CHAIR, FORMERLY AT BLENHEIM, THE SEAT WORKED BY SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH.
The latest style of Chippendale's work is the Gothic. There are many pieces in existence which he probably had to produce to satisfy the taste of his fashionable clients, but the style is atrocious, and the less said about them the better. The illustration (p.225) of a chair-back from his design-book shows how offensive it could be.
CHIPPENDALE CORNER CHAIR.By permission of the proprietors of the "Connoisseur."CHIPPENDALE CORNER CHAIR, ABOUT 1780.(Reproduced by kindness of the Hon. Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane, G.C.B., I.S.O.)
The fine corner-chair, here illustrated, exhibits thestrength and solidity he could impart to his work. His chairs were meant to sit upon, and are of excellent carpentry. The square, straight legs are a feature of much of his work. The examples belonging to the India Office and the Governors of the Charterhouse illustrated (pp.226,227) show the type that he made his own and with which his name has been associated.
GOTHIC CHIPPENDALE CHAIR-BACK.GOTHIC CHIPPENDALE CHAIR-BACK.(From the "Director.")
Although his chairs are sought after as especially beautiful in design (his father was a maker of chairs before him) he made many other objects of furniture. The mirrors he designed are exquisite examples of fine woodcarving. The one illustrated (p.229) shows the mastery he had over graceful outline. Bureau bookcases with drop-down fronts have been successfully produced since his day after his models. The one illustrated (p.231) shows a secret drawer, which is reached by removing the left-hand panel. Card-tables, settees, knife-boxes, tea-caddies, sideboards, and overmantles were made by him, which show by their diversity of technique that there was more than one pair of hands at work in carrying out his designs.
MAHOGANY CHIPPENDALE CHAIR. ABOUT 1740.By permission of the proprietors of the "Connoisseur."MAHOGANY CHIPPENDALE CHAIR. ABOUT 1740.(Property of the India Office.)
The collecting of Chippendale furniture has become so fashionable of late years that genuine old pieces are difficult to procure. It is true that two old chairs were discovered in a workhouse last year, but when specimens come into the market they usually bringlarge prices. Two elbow state-chairs, with openwork backs, were sold a little while ago for seven hundred and eighty guineas, and a set of six small chairs brought ninety-three guineas about the same time. But even this is not the top price reached,for two chairs at Christie's realised eleven hundred pounds!
MAHOGANY CHIPPENDALE CHAIR. 1770.By permission of the proprietors of the "Connoisseur."MAHOGANY CHIPPENDALE CHAIR. 1770.(By permission of the Master of the Charterhouse.)
Chippendale, the shopkeeper, of St Martin's Lane, who took orders for furniture, which he or his sons, or workmen under their direct supervision, executed, was one person, and Chippendale, who had quarrelled with the Society of Upholsterers, and published a book of designs on his own account, which quickly ran through three editions, was another person. In the one case he was a furniture maker whose pieces bring enormous prices. In the other he was the pioneer of popular taste and high-priest to the cabinetmakers scattered up and down England, who quickly realised the possibilities of his style, and rapidly produced good work on his lines.
These pieces are by unknown men, and no doubt much of their work has been accredited to Chippendale himself. The illustration (p.232) shows a mahogany chair well constructed, of a time contemporary with Chippendale and made by some smaller maker. This type of chair has been copied over and over again till it has become a recognised pattern. It finds its counterpart in china in the old willow-pattern, which originated at Coalport and has been adopted as a stock design.
CHIPPENDALE MIRROR.By permission of the proprietors of the "Connoisseur."CHIPPENDALE MIRROR.
Furniture is not like silver, where the mark of the maker was almost as obligatory as the hall mark. Artists, both great and small, have signed their pictures, and in the glorious days of the great Frenchébénistesand metal-chasers, signed work is frequently found. But in England, at a time when furniture of excellent design, of original conception, and ofthoroughly good workmanship was produced in great quantities, the only surviving names are those of designers or cabinetmakers who have published books.
CHIPPENDALE BUREAU BOOKCASE.By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co.CHIPPENDALE BUREAU BOOKCASE.With drop-down front, showing secret drawer.
So great was the influence of the style of Chippendale that it permeated all classes of society. An interesting engraving by Stothard (p.235) shows the interior of a room, and is dated 1782, the year that Rodney gained a splendid victory over the Frenchfleet in the West Indies, and the year that saw the independence of the United States recognised.
MAHOGANY CHAIR.By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co.MAHOGANY CHAIR.IN THE CHIPPENDALE STYLE. LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
COTTAGE CHAIRS, BEECHWOOD.COTTAGE CHAIRS, BEECHWOOD.LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, IN STYLE OF CHIPPENDALE.
Kitchen furniture or cottage furniture was made on the same lines by makers all over the country. The wood used was not mahogany; it was most frequently beech. Chairs of this make are not museum examples, but they are not devoid of a strong artistic feeling, and are especially English in character. More often than not the soft wood of this class of chair is foundto be badly worm-eaten. Two chairs of this type, of beech, are illustrated (p.233), and it is interesting to note that, as in the instance of the Yorkshire and Derbyshire chairs of Jacobean days made by local makers, it is not common to find many of exactly the same design. The craftsman gave a personal character to his handiwork, which makes such pieces of original and artistic interest, and cabinetmaking and joinery was not then so machine-made as it is now.
INTERIOR OF ROOM, ABOUT 1782.INTERIOR OF ROOM, ABOUT 1782.(From engraving after Stothard.)
It may be here remarked that the earlier pieces of the eighteenth century were polished much in the same manner as was old oak previously described. Highly polished surfaces and veneers, and that abomination "French polish," which is a cheap and nasty method of disguising poor wood, bring furniture within the early nineteenth-century days, when a wave of Philistine banalities swept over Europe.
£s.d.Side table, Chippendale, with gadrooned border, the front boldly carved with a grotesque mask, festoons of flowers and foliage, on carved legs with claw feet, 64 in. long. Christie, February 14, 190212600Tea-caddy, Chippendale mahogany, square, with four divisions, the borders carved with rosettes and interlaced riband ornament, the sides inlaid with four old Worcester oblong plaques painted with exotic birds, insects, fruit, flowers, and festoons in colours on white ground, 10 in. square. Christie, February 6, 190352100Fire-screen, Chippendale mahogany, containing a panel of old English petit-point needlework, worked with a basket of flowers in coloured silks, on pillar and tripod carved with foliage and ball-and-claw feet. Christie, December 4, 190317170Armchairs, pair large Chippendale mahogany, with interlaced backs carved with foliage, the arms terminating in carved and gilt eagles' heads. Christie, January 22, 19048840Cabinet, Chippendale mahogany, with glazed folding doors enclosing shelves, and with cupboards and eight small drawers below, the borders fluted, 8 ft. high, 8 ft. wide. Christie, January 22, 19046740Chairs, set of six Chippendale mahogany, with open interlaced backs, with scroll tops, carved with foliage and shell ornament, on carved cabriole legs and ball-and-claw feet. Christie, January 22, 1904102180Table, Chippendale, oblong, cabriole legs, carved with shells, &c., on claw feet, surmounted by a veined white marble slab, 53 in. wide. Christie, March 4, 19047300Settee, Chippendale mahogany, with double back with scroll top, carved with arabesque foliage, the arms terminating in masks, on legs carved with lions' masks and claw feet, 54 in. wide. Christie, April 12, 190427850Mirror, Chippendale, carved with gilt, 88 in. high, 50 in. wide. Christie, May 18, 190494100
[1]By the kindness of the proprietors of theConnoisseurthese items are given from their useful monthly publicationAuction Sale Prices.
[1]By the kindness of the proprietors of theConnoisseurthese items are given from their useful monthly publicationAuction Sale Prices.
HEPPELWHITE SETTEE, MAHOGANY.By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co.HEPPELWHITE SETTEE, MAHOGANY.
Robert Adam1728-1792.1752.Loch and Copeland's designs published.1765.Manwaring's designs published.1770.Ince and Mayhew's designs published.1788.Heppelwhite's designs published.Thomas Sheraton1751-1806.
1752.Loch and Copeland's designs published.
1765.Manwaring's designs published.
1770.Ince and Mayhew's designs published.
1788.Heppelwhite's designs published.
In the popular conception of the furniture of the three Georges the honours are divided between Chippendale and Sheraton. Up till recently all that was not Chippendale was Sheraton, and all thatwas not Sheraton must be Chippendale. The one is represented by the straight-legged mahogany chairs or cabriole legs with claw-and-ball feet and the backs elaborately carved; the other with finely tapered legs, built on elegant lines, and of satinwood, having marquetry decoration or painted panels.
This is the rough generalisation that obtained in the earlier days of the craze for collecting eighteenth-century furniture. Heppelwhite and Adam (more often than not alluded to as Adams), are now added to the list, and auction catalogues attempt to differentiate accordingly. But these four names do not represent a quarter of the well-known makers who were producing good furniture in the days between the South Sea Bubble in 1720 and the battle of Waterloo in 1815.
In this chapter it will be impossible to give more than a passing allusion to the less-known makers of the eighteenth century, but to those who wish to pursue the matter in more detailed manner the Bibliography annexed (p.19) gives ample material for a closer study of the period.
The four brothers Adam, sons of a well-known Scottish architect, were exponents of the classic style. Robert Adam was the architect of the fine houses in the Adelphi, and he designed the screen and gateway at the entrance to the Admiralty in 1758. James is credited with the designing of interior decorations and furniture. Carriages, sedan-chairs, and even plate were amongst the artistic objects to which these brothers gave their stamp. The classical capitals, mouldings and niches, the shellflutings and the light garlands in the Adam style, are welcome sights in many otherwise dreary streets in London. Robert, the eldest brother, lived from 1728 to 1792, and during that time exercised a great influence on English art.
SHERATON ARMCHAIR. ADAM ARMCHAIR.SHERATON ARMCHAIR; MAHOGANY, ABOUT 1780.ADAM ARMCHAIR; MAHOGANY, ABOUT 1790.
SHERATON ARMCHAIR; MAHOGANY, ABOUT 1780.ADAM ARMCHAIR; MAHOGANY, ABOUT 1790.
ARMCHAIR OF WALNUT. CHAIR OF WALNUT.ARMCHAIR OF WALNUT, SHIELD-BACK CARVED WITH THREE OSTRICH FEATHERS. IN HEPPELWHITE STYLE. LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.CHAIR OF WALNUT, SHIELD-BACK; IN THE STYLE OF HEPPELWHITE. LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.(Victoria and Albert Museum.)
ARMCHAIR OF WALNUT, SHIELD-BACK CARVED WITH THREE OSTRICH FEATHERS. IN HEPPELWHITE STYLE. LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.CHAIR OF WALNUT, SHIELD-BACK; IN THE STYLE OF HEPPELWHITE. LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.(Victoria and Albert Museum.)
In 1790, a set of designs of English furniture were published by A. Heppelwhite. In these chairs with pierced backs, bookcases with fancifully framed glass doors, and mahogany bureaux, the influence of Chippendale is evident, but the robustness of the master and the individuality of his style become transformed into a lighter and more elegant fashion, to which Frenchfinesseand the Adam spirit have contributed their influence.
In the illustration (p.243) various types of chairs of the period are given. A chair termed the "ladder-back" was in use in France at the same time. In Chardin's celebrated picture of "Le jeu de l'oye," showing the interior of a parlour of the middle eighteenth century, a chair of this type is shown.
The Heppelwhite settee illustrated as the headpiece to this chapter shows the delicate fluting in the woodwork, and the elaborated turned legs which were beginning to be fashionable at the close of the eighteenth century. The two chairs by Heppelwhite & Co., illustrated (p.243), are typical examples of the elegance of the style which has an individuality of its own—a fact that collectors are beginning to recognise.
The shield-back chair with wheat-ear and openwork decoration, and legs in which the lathe has been freely used, are characteristic types. Theelegance of the legs in Heppelwhite chairs is especially noticeable. The designers departed from Chippendale with results exquisitely symmetrical, and of most graceful ornamentation.
Hogarth, in his biting satires on the absurdities of Kent, the architect, painter, sculptor, and ornamental gardener, whose claims to be any one of the four rest on slender foundations, did not prevent fashionable ladies consulting him for designs for furniture, picture frames, chairs, tables, for cradles, for silver plate, and even for the construction of a barge. It is recorded by Walpole that two great ladies who implored him to design birthday gowns for them were decked out in incongruous devices: "the one he dressed in a petticoat decorated in columns of the five orders, and the other like a bronze, in a copper-coloured satin, with ornaments of gold."
Heppelwhite learned the lesson of Hogarth, that "the line of beauty is a curve," and straight lines were studiously avoided in his designs. Of the varieties of chairs that he made, many have the Prince of Wales's feathers either carved upon them in the centre of the open-work back or japanned upon the splat, a method of decoration largely employed in France, which has not always stood the test of time, for when examples are found they often want restoration. Of satin-wood, with paintings upon the panels, Heppelwhite produced some good examples, and when he attempted greater elaboration his style in pieces of involved design and intricacy of detail became less original, and came into contact with Sheraton. His painted furniture commandshigh prices, and the name of Heppelwhite will stand as high as Chippendale or Sheraton for graceful interpretations of the spirit which invested the late eighteenth century.
Before dealing with Sheraton in detail, the names of some lesser known makers contemporary with him may be mentioned. Matthias Lock, together with a cabinetmaker named Copeland, published in 1752 designs of furniture which derived their inspiration from the brothers Adam, which classic feeling later, in conjunction with the Egyptian and Pompeian spirit, dominated the style of the First Empire. Josiah Wedgewood, with his Etruscan vases, and Flaxman, his designer, filled with the new classic spirit, are examples in the world of pottery of the influences which were transmitted through the French Revolution to all forms of art when men cast about in every direction to find new ideas for design.
Ince and Mayhew, two other furniture designers, published a book in 1770, and Johnson outdid Chippendale's florid styles in a series of designs he brought out, which, with their twisted abortions, look almost like a parody of Thomas Chippendale's worst features. There is a "Chairmaker's Guide," by Manwaring and others in 1766, which contains designs mainly adapted from all that was being produced at the time. It is not easy to tell the difference between chairs made by Manwaring and those made by Chippendale, as he certainly stands next to the great master in producing types which have outlived ephemeral tastes, and taken their stand as fine artistic creations.
Among other names are those of Shearer, Darly, and Gillow, all of whom were notable designers and makers of furniture in the period immediately preceding the nineteenth century.
Thomas Sheraton, contemporary with William Blake the dreamer, shares with him the unfortunate posthumous honour of reaching sensational prices in auction rooms. There is much in common between the two men. Sheraton was born in 1751 at Stockton-on-Tees, and came to London to starve. Baptist preacher, cabinetmaker, author, teacher of drawing, he passed his life in poverty, and died in distressed circumstances. He was, before he brought out his book of designs, the author of several religious works. Often without capital to pursue his cabinetmaking he fell back on his aptitude for drawing, and gave lessons in design. He paid young Black, who afterwards became Lord Provost of Edinburgh, half a guinea a week as workman in his cabinetmaker's shop in Soho. In a pathetic picture of those days the Lord Provost, in hisMemoirs, tells how Sheraton and his wife and child had only two cups and saucers and the child had a mug, and when the writer took tea with them the wife's cup and saucer were given up to the guest, and she drank her tea from a common mug. This reads like Blake's struggles when he had not money enough to procure copper-plates on which to engrave his wonderful visions.
That the styles of Chippendale and Sheraton represent two distinct schools is borne out by what Sheraton himself thought of his great predecessor. Speaking in his own book of Chippendale's previouswork he says: "As for the designs themselves they are wholly antiquated, and laid aside, though possessed of great merit according to the times in which they were executed." From this it would appear that the Chippendale style, at the time of Sheraton's "Cabinetmaker's and Upholsterer's Drawing Book," published in 1793, had gone out of fashion.
The woods mostly employed by Sheraton were satinwood, tulip-wood, rosewood, and apple-wood, and occasionally mahogany. In place of carved scrollwork he used marquetry, and on the cabinets and larger pieces panels were painted by Cipriani and Angelica Kauffman. There is a fine example of the latter's work in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Sheraton borrowed largely from the French style under Louis XVI., when the lines had become severer; he came, too, under the influence of the Adam designs. He commonly used turned legs, and often turned backs, in his chairs. His later examples had a hollowed or spoon back to fit the body of the sitter. When he used mahogany he realised the beauty of effect the dark wood would give to inlay of lighter coloured woods, or even of brass. The splats and balusters, and even the legs of some of his chairs, are inlaid with delicate marquetry work.
Ornament for its own sake was scrupulously eschewed by Sheraton. The essential supports and uprights and stretcher-rails and other component parts of a piece of furniture were only decorated as portions of a preconceived whole. The legs were tapered, the plain surfaces were inlaid with marquetry,but nothing meaningless was added. In France Sheraton's style was termed "Louis Seize à l'Anglaise."
OLD ENGLISH SECRÉTAIRE.By permission of Messrs. Hampton &. Sons.OLD ENGLISH SECRÉTAIRE.Rosewood and satinwood. Drop-down front.
It was the firm of Heppelwhite that first introduced the painted furniture into England, and under Sheraton it developed into an emulation of the fine work done by Watteau and Greuze in the days of Marie Antoinette.
Among the varied pieces that Sheraton produced are a number of ingenious inventions in furniture, such as the library-steps he made for George III. to rise perpendicularly from the top of a table frame, and when folded up to be concealed within it. His bureau-bookcases and writing-cabinets have sliding flaps and secret drawers and devices intended to make them serve a number of purposes.
SHIELD-BACK CHAIR. MAHOGANY.By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co.SHIELD-BACK CHAIR. MAHOGANY.LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
On the front of his chairs is frequently found theinverted bell flower, and another of his favourite forms of decoration is the acanthus ornament, which he puts to graceful use.
The influence of his work, and of that of Heppelwhite & Co., was lasting, and much of the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century cabinetmaking owes its origin to their designs. The old English secrétaire illustrated (p.250), of rose and satinwood, with drawer above and fall-down front, having cupboard beneath with doors finely inlaid with plaques of old lac, is of the date when Heppelwhite was successfully introducing this class of French work into England. It is especially interesting to note that the drawer-handles are mounted with old Battersea enamel.
The difficulty of definitely pronouncing as to the maker of many of the pieces of furniture of the late eighteenth century is recognised by experts. The chair illustrated (p.251) cannot be assigned to any particular designer, though its genuine old feeling is indisputable. In the fine collection of old furniture of this period at the Victoria and Albert Museum will be found many examples of chairs with no other title assigned to them than "late eighteenth century." This fact speaks for itself. A great and growing school had followed the precepts of Chippendale and Heppelwhite and Sheraton. This glorious period of little more than half a century might have been developed into a new Renaissance in furniture. Unfortunately, the early days of the nineteenth century and the dreary Early Victorian period, both before and after thegreat Exhibition of 1851, display the most tasteless ineptitude in nearly every branch of art. From the days of Elizabeth down to the last of the Georges, English craftsmen, under various influences, have produced domestic furniture of great beauty. It is impossible to feel any interest in the Windsor chair, the saddle-bag couch, or the red mahogany cheffonière. The specimens of misapplied work shown at the Bethnal Green Museum, relics of the English exhibits at the first Exhibition, are unworthy of great traditions.
The awakened interest shown by all classes in old furniture will do much to carry the designers back to the best periods in order to study the inheritance the masters have left, and it is to be hoped that the message of the old craftsmen dead and gone will not fall on deaf ears.