Thomas-Chippendale.Pdf
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Thomas Chippendale Thomas Chippendale (1718 - 1779) was baptised on 5 June 1718 at Otley, a small market town in Wharfedale, Yorkshire, the only child of John Chippendale (1690 - 1768), joiner and his first wife Mary (1693 - 1729), daughter of Thomas Drake, stonemason of Otley. His father re-married and had seven As a young man Chippendale was locks and to silver a looking glass. more children. Many of Thomas almost certainly employed by Richard Chippendale's relatives followed Wood, joiner and cabinetmaker of York, In later life he probably came to regard woodworking trades, like his second who later ordered eight subscription York, rather than Otley, as his natural cousin William who made the sturdy copies of the Director. base in Yorkshire, although a deed oak chest for the village school at Burn dated 28 July 1770 in which "Thomas Yates in 1770. So young Thomas One of his apprentices, William Benson, Chippendale of St Martin's Lane, received an elementary education at reappears as foreman in Chippendale's London, Cabinet Maker" assisted one of Otley Grammar School and probably London workshop, and in 1771 while his kinsmen over the conveyancing of served a family apprenticeship. working at Nostell Priory, Chippendale property in Otley, shows that he asked his former master to supply six maintained links with his birthplace. London The earliest trustworthy evidence of Chippendale's presence in London is his marriage licence for a ceremony at St George's Chapel, Mayfair where "19 May 1748, Thomas Chippendale and Catherine Redshaw of St Martin-in-the-Fields". Nothing is known about his wife's During 1753 Chippendale was busy such exalted circles. background, but it seems that he producing drawings for his ambitious missed the chance to improve his publication The Gentleman and Cabinet His social status at this time was that of circumstances through a judicious Maker's Director and so needed a smart a tradesman, glimpsed in a picturesque marriage. address from which to launch it as well chinoiserie invitation ticket to a as contrive an opportunity to dedicate convivial gathering which he designed Their eldest child Thomas was baptised it to the Earl of Northumberland. in 1753 for a fellow cabinet maker at St Paul's, Covent Garden in April 1749 Caesar Crouch; its stylish affinities with and Catherine subsequently bore Matthias Darly, who engraved most of several rococo furniture maker's trade another four boys and four girls. In 1749 the plates and who may also have been cards, also engraved by Darly, suggests Chippendale rented a modest house in Chippendale's drawing master, shared that Chippendale was in demand as an Conduit Court, an enclave off Longacre the house for several months in 1753. author of ornamental compositions. on the fringe of a fashionable furniture- Press notices soliciting subscriptions making district. give the author's address as The year 1754 proved momentous: "Northumberland Court" (an alternative Chippendale moved to spacious In the summer of 1752 he moved to name). premises in the fashionable paved more respectable premises in Somerset thoroughfare of St Martin's Lane (later Court, off the Strand, adjoining the Earl A payment in Lord Burlington's private numbered 60, 61 and 62) where the of Northumberland's great mansion. At account book "13 October 1747 to firm stayed for the next 60 years. He this time it is likely that he was making Chippendale in full £6-16-0d" raises the formed a partnership with James small amounts of furniture for possibility that he was "one of the Rannie who injected capital into the established firms on a sub-contracted Persons of Distinction" and "eminent business and he brought out the first basis rather than dealing directly with Taste" who, Chippendale claimed, edition of his highly influential furniture clients. He may also have served the encouraged him to publish a volume of pattern book The Gentleman and furniture and upholder's trade as a designs. But it would be misleading to Cabinet Maker's Director, copies of freelance designer. suppose that he normally moved in which, as the dual appeal of the title London continued intended, were acquired by the nobility, No partnership agreement with Rannie on time. This may also have affected the gentry and many fellow tradesmen. has been traced, but their formal quality of furniture supplied to these association evidently dates from about clients as examples of cost cutting and The property consisted of three houses August 1754 when a joint lease on the uneven work can sometimes be found. opposite Old Slaughter's Coffee House, St Martin's Lane property was signed. a popular meeting place for some of the He was a wealthy Scottish merchant Thomas Chippendale junior, who most interesting avant-garde artists and with shipping interests and capital to became a first class cabinet maker and designers of this period. Other furniture invest. Although described in his will as designer in his own right, played an makers operating in St Martin's Lane at an "upholder and Cabinet maker" it is increasingly important part in the this time included John Channon, unlikely he possessed craft skills. He and enterprise, enabling his father to retire, William Hallett, William Vile and John his bookkeeper Thomas Haig probably perhaps on the grounds of ill health, in Cobb. looked after the accounting side of the mid summer 1776 when he took a business. modest house in Lob's Fields (now The property at No 60 became Derry Street), Kensington. Chippendale's dwelling, No 61 the shop Ledgers reveal that in March 1755 the and Rannie lived at No 62. A covered partners' premises and stock in trade Chippendale's first wife Catherine died passageway led to a yard and extensive were covered for £3,700. Later in April in 1772 and he married Elizabeth Davis workshops at the back including a chair of that year, a fire destroyed their at Fulham Parish Church in August room, cabinet maker's shops, veneering, cabinet workshop. __It is reported that 1777. Four months later Elizabeth was carpet, glass and feather rooms, a large after the death of James Rannie in born, followed in 1779 by John and upholsterer's shop, various timber January 1766 Chippendale's financial Charles in 1780. In all Chippendale had stores, workrooms and a counting situation caused a severe strain on the 12 children, but only four were still house. business until in 1771 when Rannie's living in 1784. book-keeper Thomas Haig, who had They named their new establishment stayed with the firm, apparently During his last illness in 1779 "The Cabinet and Upholstery borrowed £2,000 from his late master's Chippendale moved to Hoxton where Warehouse" and adopted a chair as widow, which he used to become he died of consumption and was buried their shop sign – presumably the stylish Chippendale’s partner. at St Martins-in-the Fields on 13 armchair featured on their trade card. November. His son paid four guineas for Leading cabinetmakers considered it The rescue package also included his Hoxton lodgings, five guineas to the undignified to advertise in this way, backing from another executor, Henry physicians who attended him and £24 preferring to attract patronage through Ferguson who became a third partner. funeral expenses. personal recommendation. The fact that The business became Chippendale, only a single copy of the card survives Haig and Co. Although this He had lived simply and his house suggests that it was used for only a arrangement established a measure of contents were valued for probate at short time and never served as a financial stability, there were frequent only £28. Today a collection of his maker's label. cash flow problems caused by the furniture could fetch millions. failure of clients to settle their account Chippendale’s Furniture Designs Prior to the publication of The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Directory in 1754 no cabinetmaker had ever published their designs in a comparable fashion to the lavish volumes produced by professional architects. It is not known where Chippendale there is now evidence that Chippendale Until recently it was thought that at received his artistic education or was himself a fluent and accomplished houses where Robert Adam and learned the principles of rococo draughtsman. Chippendale both worked Adam compositions. Matthias Darly, an regularly supplied Chippendale with engraver and professional drawing There were three editions of the drawings to execute. Such master may have taught him. Director. The second, with trifling arrangements certainly existed between corrections, appeared in 1755 and a Adam and other leading cabinet makers Some of Chippendale's drawings third revised and enlarged edition but Chippendale is only known to have eventually came into the possession of containing 200 plates was published in made furniture according to Adam's Lord Folley and most were purchased parts between 1759 and 1762. A French design on one occasion when, in 1765, by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, edition also appeared at this time. he provided an opulent suite of New York in 1920. Some had been armchairs and sofas in a transitional pirated beforehand and a group of six is The first edition was dedicated to Hugh, neo-classical style for the house of Sir owned by the Chippendale Society and Earl of Northumberland who repaid the Lawrence Dundas in Arlington Street, is included in the exhibition; others are compliment by patronising the firm. London. Adam in fact displayed great at the Victoria and Albert Museum Most copies of the second edition were confidence in Chippendale's ability to together with the designs of Matthias dedicated to HRH Prince William Henry design and make appropriate Lock, a carver by trade.