Seminar: Architects, Furniture & Patrons, c.1760 – 1815
Join us on Zoom this Wednesday the 17th of November from 4.00pm to 7.30pm (GMT) for the third out of our five weekly autumn 2021 online courses. This week three speakers - all well known to FHS members - will consider the period, c.1760-1815
DR MEGAN ALDRICH
The Furniture Maker and the Architect in the Palladian and Neoclassical Periods
Rough preliminary drawing by Robert Adam made for publication for various items of furniture. Curtain Cornice in Grt room / Glass in small parler / Glass in great room / Glass in Eating room . Side board in Eating room and some dimensions given (in pencil). Pen and pencil on laid paper, 1774.
During the first third of the eighteenth century, British furniture production began to respond to leading developments in architectural design. Makers began to work collaboratively to provide furnishings for interiors that were designed by architects, resulting in a professionalisation of the furniture-making industry - principally in London - during the eighteenth century. This lecture will look at the changing role of furniture makers working during the Palladian (c. 1725-65) and Neoclassical (c. 1760-85) periods under the direct supervision of architects like William Kent and Robert Adam, when the individuality of workshop production was subsumed under new design imperatives and a concern for harmonious, unified interiors.
LUCY WOOD
London Furniture Makers in the time of Chippendale
The Pomfret Cabinet attributed to William Hallet senior (shown with painted decoration and heraldry) c. 1752-53
RUFUS BIRD
‘As refined and classical as possible': George IV and other patrons of British furniture makers in the Regency period 1800-1830
One of a pair of giltwood pier tables, supplied to George, Prince of Wales at Carlton House by Tatham, Bailey & Sanders, 1813 (RCIN 33809, Royal Collection Trust)
Furnishings in the Regency period reached a zenith of luxuriousness and expense - perhaps subsequently never matched. This was in part thanks to the use, understanding and appreciation of complicated and expensive upholstery and in part thanks to the ambitions - and wealth - of patrons. Chief among these British Maecenases of the furnishing world was George IV, who, when Prince of Wales furnished and refurnished rooms within Carlton House several times over. He then oversaw an even more ambitious programme of furnishing at Windsor Castle before his death in 1830. Other patrons of elevated noble rank followed in his wake, seeking to emulate, and in some cases exceed, the richness sought by the Prince. This talk will look at the furnishings supplied for Carlton House and Windsor Castle, the furniture makers employed by George and their designs, and will also seek to consider how Carlton House and Windsor Castle sit alongside other major British furnishing projects carried out in the first quarter of the 19th century.
BIFMO is grateful for the support of the Foyle Foundation and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
You can get further information and book tickets on the FHS Website or on Eventbrite
If you have any queries, please email: bifmo@furniturehistorysociety.org.