Lectures 2
11: Early 18th Century Walnut Furniture
The reigns of Queen Anne and George I herald the Golden Age of English Cabinet Making, with walnut furniture that was sophisticated in range, style and decoration.
12: From Rome to Kent – The Baroque Style in English Furniture
This lecture combines looking at furniture with looking at the interiors for which it was designed as it follows the Baroque style from Rome to England.
13: The Age of Mahogany – ‘The Golden Age of English Furniture’
Mahogany became the timber of choice for cabinetmaking in the 18th century and designers and cabinet makers exploited its characteristics in producing furniture which set a new quality standard in terms of both design and craftsmanship.
14: The Age of Elegance: Georgian Furniture
The development of elegance through style in relation to the design and construction of furniture during the 18th Century.
15: The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale
It was Chippendale’s creative design talent together with his traditionally skilled craftsmanship which enabled him, through his cabinet making business, to design and produce some of the finest and most innovative examples of 18th Century English furniture.
A study of Chinoiserie furniture and furnishings of in particular the 18th century with a view to assessing whether it was to be taken seriously or regarded as a caricature.
The lecture will draw on English and continental examples of furniture dazzlingly enriched with gilding and gilded ornaments and will consider the symbolic use of gilt ornamentation as an expression of power.
An appraisal of Adam’s influence on the development of neo-classical furniture, focussing on items in interiors designed by him.
19: Uniting Elegance with Utility: George (and Alice) Hepplewhite
Hepplewhite’s fame derives from his book of designs, published and ‘improved’ after his death by his wife Alice, which gives us a wonderful stylistic summary of how the late 18th century cabinet making trade managed to “unite elegance with utility and blend the useful with the agreeable”.
20: Thomas Sheraton’s Designs for Cabinet-Makers
Sheraton’s fame stems from the considerable publications he produced through which we can gain a good understanding of furniture styles of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Janusz Speaking 