A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



of his protigis, was born in London in 1722, 

 and studied abroad for many years, returning 

 to England in 1757 with Sir William Cham- 

 bers. He was employed in designing carriage 

 and furniture decorations, and painted the royal 

 state coach now in use. John Baptist Cipriani 

 and Angelica Kauffinan, painters of the same 

 period, did much decorative work for Cham- 

 bers, 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 1 8th century. 

 He published in 1758-9 a book of designs of 

 furniture of every kind. 9 He used mahogany 

 as a material instead of oak, and brought that 

 wood into general use. His designs are dis- 

 tinguished for their fine architectural mould- 

 ings, 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, follow- 

 ing the taste introduced by Sir William Cham- 

 bers. Another of his published works was 

 intituled The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's 

 Director, a collection of designs of household fur- 

 niture; of this a third edition appeared in 1762. 



Matthew Lock, a London carver and 

 gilder, with whom was associated a cabinet- 

 maker named H. Copeland, published a book of 

 furniture designs, undated, but probably of the 

 year I743- 10 At the exhibition of 1862 a 

 collection of his original drawings and those 

 of Chippendale was shown. The accom- 

 panying notes gave the names of his workmen, 

 their wages, &c., in 1743, from which it 

 appears that 55. 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. Hav- 

 ing obtained from the Duke of St. Albans' 

 estate a lease for i oo 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. 



9 Chippendale, Ornaments and interior decorations 

 in the old French style. 



10 Collection of ornamental designi appKcable to the 

 decoration of rooms in the style of Louis XIV. 

 Another book by Lock, A book of ornaments, drawn 

 and engraved by M. L., was republished by John 

 Wealein 1858-9. 



An explanation of the general principles 

 which they adopted is afforded by the pub- 

 lished plates of Derby House, Grosvenor 

 Square, now destroyed. The brothers Adam 

 designed fireplaces, steel grate fronts, side- 

 boards, 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. Heppel- 

 white, a cabinet-maker of this period, trading 

 with his assistants as Heppelwhite & Co., pub- 

 lished in 1 789 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 to- 

 gether. Sheraton was the author of a com- 

 plete dictionary of his trade, 11 and of a Cabinet- 

 maker's Drawing-book^ 2 



Throughout the 1 8th century the work of 

 upholsterers in England was much influenced 

 by the designs of the brothers Adam, Chippen- 

 dale, Sheraton, and Pergolesi. They evince 

 regard for general utility and comfort, com- 

 bined with skill and delicacy in design and 

 sound workmanship. 



Mr. J. Hungerford Pollen, in his Ancient 

 and Modern Furniture in the South Kensington 

 Museum 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 [i8th] 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 architec- 

 ture that it almost ceased to exist as a separate 

 art. The woodwork of rooms and the charac- 

 ter 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. 



11 The Cabinet Dictionary (1803). 

 11 Published in 1793-4. 

 " 1874, Introd. p. ccxviii. 



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