CABINET-MAKING AND WOOD-CARVING
Horace Walpole mentions among the artists
in woodwork of the Tudor period Lawrence Truber, a carver, and Humphrey Cooke,
master carpenter of the new buildings at the
Savoy. (fn. 1) Another workman in this art is met
with in the reign of Henry VIII, one William
Grene the king's coffer maker, (fn. 2) who received
£6 18s. 'for making of a coffer covered with
fustyan of Naples, and being full of drawers
and boxes lined with red and grene sarcynet
to put in stones of divers sorts'. There is
ample evidence that many foreign woodcarvers and cabinet-makers were working in
London in the 16th century. In 1540
foreign joiners (fn. 3) are found in East Smithfield.
Ten years later the roll of the Dutch Church (fn. 4)
records a large number of Flemish 'schrynmakers' and 'kistmakers' living in the City,
Southwark, and St. Giles. In 1567 in the
Ward of Bridge Without (fn. 5) alone there were
at least twenty-four foreign joiners and carpenters, and many later instances might be
cited. Indeed in 1582-3 so serious had become the competition of the strangers that the
Joiners' Company returned a list of 100
foreigners exercising this craft, and declared (fn. 6) :
The Master and Wardens of the Companye of
Joyners never licensed nor admitted any of the
persons hereunder expressed to use their said trade,
yett they, dwelling somme in Westminster, somme
in Sainct Katherins, and somme in Sowthworke, do
use the sayd occupacion, and have joyned themselves togeather and have sued the joyners these
tenne yeres in the lawe and procured to be spent
above £400 only to thend to worck in London as
fullye as a freeman may doe, to the utter undoing
of a great number of freemen joyners, mere Englishemen, who are all sowayes [sic] ready for any
service for her Majestie, this Realme and Citie of
London.
The greatest master of the school of English wood-carving was Grinling Gibbons, who
flourished in the latter part of the 17th and
in the early 18th century. He was of English
parentage but born in Holland, and was
brought by Evelyn under the notice of
Charles II, who gave him an appointment in
the Board of Works. He afterwards lived
in Belle Sauvage Court, Ludgate Hill. Here
he carved so delicately a pot of flowers for his
window sill, that the leaves shook with the
vibration caused by the coaches as they rumbled through the yard. His finest work is at
Petworth House, Sussex, but the choir stalls
at St. Paul's Cathedral afford an excellent
example of his style. He died on 3 August
1721 at his house in Bow Street, Covent
Garden. His followers built up a school of
architectural carvers whose beautiful work
abounds in old London buildings, such as the
court-room at Stationers' Hall, the vestry of the
church of St. Lawrence Jewry, &c., the traditions
of which continued down to the last century.
With the reign of William and Mary
marquetry furniture became the fashion in
the form of bandy-legged chairs, secrétaires
or bureaux, long clock-cases, &c., that afforded
surfaces available for such decoration. This
art had not previously been practised in England, specimens being procured by importation
chiefly from Italy. The leaves and other
figures composing the pattern were cut out of
dyed woods, shading being given by means of
hot sand. (fn. 7) George Ethrington was a London
maker of this work about the year 1665. (fn. 8)
Many London cabinet-makers subsequently
engaged in this manufacture, and a national
style was developed. Another style of decoration known as Boule (from its inventor André
Charles Boule, born in 1642) shared with
marquetry the favour of the public. This
was a kind of veneered work usually composed
of tortoiseshell and thin brass. Sir William
Chambers, the celebrated architect (1725-96),
published a book of designs of Chinese furniture, dresses, &c., in 1757, and largely employed the best artists in wood-carving for the
decoration of his interiors. John Wilton, one
of his protègès, was born in London in 1722,
and studied abroad for many years, returning
to England in 1757 with Sir William Chambers. He was employed in designing carriage
and furniture decorations, and painted the royal
state coach now in use. John Baptist Cipriani
and Angelica Kauffman, painters of the same
period, did much decorative work for Chambers, Adam, Chippendale, and other furniture
designers; Cipriani decorated Carlton House.
Thomas Chippendale, the son and father of
furniture makers, exercised the same trade in
London in the latter half of the 18th century.
He published in 1758-9 a book of designs of
furniture of every kind. (fn. 9) He used mahogany
as a material instead of oak, and brought that
wood into general use. His designs are distinguished for their fine architectural mouldings, and his workmanship is admirable. In
his gilt-work he is specially celebrated for his
frames, which are in the French style, and cut
with great freedom and delicacy. He also
designed Chinese scenes in his gilt-work, following the taste introduced by Sir William Chambers. Another of his published works was
intituled The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's
Director, a collection of designs of household furniture; of this a third edition appeared in 1762.
Matthew Lock, a London carver and
gilder, with whom was associated a cabinetmaker named H. Copeland, published a book of
furniture designs, undated, but probably of the
year 1743. (fn. 10) At the exhibition of 1862 a
collection of his original drawings and those
of Chippendale was shown. The accompanying notes gave the names of his workmen,
their wages, &c., in 1743, from which it
appears that 5s. a day was the sum earned by
a wood-carver at that time. Lock belonged
to and left behind him a talented school of
wood-carvers.
The brothers Robert and James Adam are
known to fame chiefly as architects who
greatly improved street architecture in London,
and as architects to King George III. Having obtained from the Duke of St. Albans'
estate a lease for 100 years of Durham Yard,
they built the terrace known as the Adelphi
on ground largely reclaimed from the Thames.
Robert and James Adam rank also as the
most important designers of furniture of their
day, adapting a suitable and harmonious system
of decoration to the houses which they built.
An explanation of the general principles
which they adopted is afforded by the published plates of Derby House, Grosvenor
Square, now destroyed. The brothers Adam
designed fireplaces, steel grate fronts, sideboards, and other articles of furniture, which
are much sought after at the present day by
those who follow the prevailing fancy for
antique furniture. Robert Adam published, in
1773, a volume of illustrations of the buildings,
room decoration, furniture, &c., designed by
him, which was reprinted in 1823. A. Heppelwhite, a cabinet-maker of this period, trading
with his assistants as Heppelwhite & Co., published in 1789 a complete set of designs for all
sorts of reception-room and bedroom furniture.
These mahogany chairs, library tables, desks
and bureaux, continued in fashion during the
early years of the next century, as did also
the lighter objects in satinwood painted with
various decorations.
The work of Thomas Sheraton, another
cabinet-maker, is still in high repute for its
admirable workmanship, which unites lightness
and strength. The specimens of his work
seem to resist the ravages of time, being made
of wood well-seasoned and admirably put together. Sheraton was the author of a complete dictionary of his trade, (fn. 11) and of a Cabinetmaker's Drawing-book. (fn. 12)
Throughout the 18th century the work of
upholsterers in England was much influenced
by the designs of the brothers Adam, Chippendale, Sheraton, and Pergolesi. They evince
regard for general utility and comfort, combined with skill and delicacy in design and
sound workmanship.
Mr. J. Hungerford Pollen, in his Ancient
and Modern Furniture in the South Kensington
Museum, (fn. 13) says: 'Only the most meagre
notices are to be found of the artists to whom
we owe the designs of modern furniture . . .
of the furniture makers who attained such
eminence during the last [18th] century very
little is known.' A principal reason for this
is to be found in the fact that for a hundred
and fifty years after the Renaissance furniture
design was so closely associated with architecture that it almost ceased to exist as a separate
art. The woodwork of rooms and the character of their furniture followed the style of
architecture employed for the building; the
ornamental chimney-pieces, &c., were mostly
designed by the architects themselves, and
fashioned by excellent artist workmen of
whom no record has been preserved.
INDUSTRIES
During the last century inspiration was
obtained from many eminent artists, of whom
it is unnecessary to mention more than A. W.
Pugin, H. Shaw, Owen Jones, William
Morris, William Burges, and C. L. Eastlake.
Among the firms which have honestly endeavoured to lead and improve public taste in
furniture and have gained a high reputation
for the quality of their work are Gillow's,
Jeffrey, Jackson & Graham, Crace, Shoolbred,
and Trollope & Sons. The list might be
considerably increased.
With regard to the system of production,
valuable information is afforded in Charles
Booth's Life and Labour of the People in London. (fn. 14)
The districts comprise Shoreditch, Bethnal
Green, Hackney, and the Tower Hamlets.
The Curtain Road district in Shoreditch is
the chief market of the trade and the centre
of its distribution. 'From the East-end
workshops,' says Mr. Booth, 'produce goes
out of every description, from the richly inlaid cabinet that may be sold for £100 or
the carved chair that can be made to pass
as rare "antique" workmanship, down to the
gypsy tables that the maker sells for 9s. a dozen
or the cheap bedroom suites and duchesse tables
that are now flooding the market.' (fn. 15)
The producers fall into four main groups.
The first class, that of the factories, forms
but an insignificant portion of the trade, there
being not more than three or four large factories with elaborate machinery, where from
about 50 to 190 men are employed. They
supply the large dealers in the Tottenham
Court Road, in the provinces, or in the
colonies. The second class, that of the larger
workshops, comprises shops in which from
15 to 25 men are generally employed. Here
the best East-end furniture is made, but the
number of first-class shops is very small, many
good firms having been obliged to give up
altogether in recent years through the prevailing demand for cheapness. In the third class
are the small makers, masters who employ from
4 to 8 men in small workshops, either built
behind the house or away from it, sometimes
even in the houses themselves. 'As a general
rule the larger shops turn out the better work.
But even among the small men excellent
work is done, in the same way that large
shops often turn out cheap and inferior goods.' (fn. 16)
These small men sell at the nearest market,
that is, the Curtain Road and its district;
here they can be sure of getting cash, whilst
the West-end shops and the provincial trade
take credit, which the small maker can rarely
afford to give. In a fourth class are the independent workers. These are mostly found
among the turners, carvers, fret-cutters, and
sawyers, and are not a large class. Other
special classes described by Mr. Booth are
chair makers, looking-glass frame makers,
carvers, french polishers, and upholsterers.