Millions of people enter the world’s museums each year. Some leave only with a map and visitors button, some leave with souvenirs from the gift shops, but some, on occasion, manage to slip out with priceless masterpieces.
The highly accomplished carved giltwood frame of this important overmantel, dating from the early years of the eighteenth century, is almost certainly the work of Thomas and René Pelletier.
Thomas and René, together with their father Jean, practiced as carvers, gilders and engravers. The family came from Paris and settled in London during the 1680s after a brief period spent working in Amsterdam. Between 1699 and 1702 they received commissions to produce over six hundred pounds worth of giltwood furniture for William III’s State Apartments at Hampton Court, proof of the high regard in which the Pelletiers were held. Thomas Pelletier took over the management of the family business in 1702, and the present mirror probably dates from this period of the firm’s output.
Artists and craftsmen have been producing masterpieces for centuries and it is from contemporaneous writings, describing both the works and the artists responsible, that we get a more complete picture of the periods and people in the history of art. Art historians analyze not only individual objects, but the social, political, economic, religious and philosophical contexts in which they were created. One of the most interesting things about the discipline is that it comprises, to some extent, a variety of humanities and sciences as a means to an end. You are being educated on far more than an object when you study the history of art.
John Hogan (1800-1858) was one of Ireland’s greatest sculptors. He was born the son of a carpenter at Tallow, Co. Waterford, and by 1816 was apprenticed to Thomas Deane, a builder and architect for whom he worked as a carpenter and woodcarver. In 1823, he attracted the attention of the Irish engraver W.P. Carey, who recognized his talent and helped him to study in Rome.
Portrait of John Hogan. Cork City Libraries.
The celebrated Piedmontese sculptor, furniture maker and ornamentalist Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo (1745-1820) was born into a family of woodcarvers in Aste. By 1773 he had settled in Turin where he was engaged at the Savoy court. His first recorded commission there was for picture frames for portraits in the Royal apartments. The Royal account books reveal that over the following twenty years he supplied an array of objects including chairs, stools, sofas, mirrors, screens, beds and panels for the Palazzo Reale in Turin as well for the Savoy residences at Moncalieri, Rivoli, Stupinigi, Venaria and Govone. In 1787 Vittorio Amadeo III, acknowledging his ’singular mastery’, appointed him official woodcarver to the Crown.
Summer has certainly arrived here in New York, and everything is a little lighter and brighter. Seasonal changeover in interior decoration is no exception as seen in this set of ten chairs (8 side and 2 armchairs), constructed in Northern Italy at the dawn of the 18th century.
The chairs are most remarkable for retaining their detachable “summer” covers, beautifully embroidered in vibrantly colored wool on Bandera fabric. Bandera, widely used in the Piedmont region of Italy, particularly at the 18th century courts, was produced in white and neutral shades and was employed in upholstery for its strength and durability. The covers would be changed seasonally to “winter” covers, of different material and design.
The form of the present set of neoclassical chairs is derived from the klismos chair, a Greek invention that evolved from a simple throne. Splayed, sabre-form legs and uprights connected by a concave backrest are characteristics of these chairs, which became popular in the late-18th and 19th centuries for their gracefulness and lightness of form, as well as their reference to antiquity. The present chairs are illustrative of the variations on the klismos form where furniture is relieved of ornament in favor of simple lines more closely modeled on its classical forbears.
Greek marble statue of Poseidioppos, resting on a klismos chair. Vatican.
We love zoomorphism and today we’re bringing you another piece that comprises several animalier elements, including one of our favorites- the serpent! This interesting carved walnut and faux bronze circular center table, circa 1820, is an example of Italian design in the early 19th century, which had been greatly influenced by French taste after the Napoleonic wars carried the Empire style across the continent. The base is comprised of four zoomorphic legs headed with lion masks and terminating in hairy paw feet. The legs are joined together by an x-shaped stretcher in the form of four serpents. The serpent heads meet in the center to support a sphere, while their tails appear to pierce each leg from the inside and continue on the outside. Figure 1 and 2 are related circular tables from southern Italy, also made in the first quarter of the 19h century, with zoomorphic legs that are connected by serpents.
This pair of armchairs formed part of a suite which furnished the State Room on the first floor of the Archduke Karl’s Palace in Vienna (now the Albertina). Archduke Karl (1771-1847), brother of Emperor Franz I, inherited the Palace from his uncle Duke Albert of Saxony Teschen in 1822, together with its famous collection of drawings and etchings. He immediately embarked upon its extensive redecoration, and after the project’s completion the Palace was regarded as one of the most tasteful and glamorous in Vienna.
This English work table, circa 1815, is a curious fusion of the refined neoclassicism of Robert Adam and the exotic eclecticism which emerged during the Regency period. The finely carved tri-form giltwood stand, based on a Roman form, is typical of Adam’s adaptation of the antique.
The use of composition was also favoured by Adam since, as with the present piece, it lends itself perfectly to the delicate decoration of this inventive version of the neoclassical. In contrast, the use of faux bronze decoration applied to the composition, and the decorative use of rosewood in conjunction with gilt ornament are more typical features of Regency furniture. Furthermore, it was also a Regency characteristic to employ finely tooled scarlet leather, such as that fitted to the interior of this piece.
