The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale Junior

Description

The Chippendale cabinet-making firm, founded by Thomas Chippendale senior in about 1750, became famous partly through the successful publication of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1754, re-published 1755 and 1762), but also through the fine furniture supplied to a number of illustrious clients. Chippendale senior ran the workshop for just over twenty years and his eldest son, Thomas Chippendale junior, continued the business for over forty years; the first two decades in partnership with Thomas Haig. Chippendale senior's work has been well documented but Chippendale junior's work has never, until now, been thoroughly researched. The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale Junior repairs the omission. His patrons included members of the Royal Family, aristocrats, landed gentry and antiquarians; he was adept at satisfying their demands, whether they required lavish gilt or simpler, often mahogany, pieces. Where family archives and original settings survive, as at Harewood House, Paxton House and Stourhead, they reveal the variety and quality of Chippendale's output. An analysis of client's invoices, even when the furniture can no longer be traced, for the first time provides a colourful view of what customers chose and what prices they paid.

Judith Goodison FSA is a furniture historian and has been researching the work of Thomas Chippendale junior for the last ten years. For many years she was Programme Director for courses on country houses and collections run by The Attingham Trust and has served as Chairman of the Governors of the Godolphin and Latymer School, member of the Education Committee of Dulwich Picture Gallery, trustee of Handel House and governor of the Museum of London.

Judith Goodison's splendid monograph is an explicit 'sequel' to Christopher Gilbert's biography of Chippendale senior [...] The outstanding illustrations beautifully convey how Chippendale's ideas evolved [...] This book is essential reading for all furniture scholars, and its handsome presentation and lively writing style assure it a much wider appeal. * The Furniture History Society Newsletter *