Thomas Chippendale

Bapt Otley, W. Yorks, 5 June 1718; Bur London, 13 Nov 1779.

His father, John Chippendale (1690–1768), was a joiner. Little is known about Thomas’s early life, but he probably received some training from his father and later from Richard Wood (c. 1707–72), a York cabinetmaker. In his twenties Thomas moved to London; the earliest recorded reference to his presence there is his marriage to Catherine Redshaw at St George’s Chapel, Mayfair, on 19 May 1749. A payment dated 13 October 1747 from Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, ‘to Chippendale in full £6-16-0’ could relate to work at Burlington House, London, or to a Yorkshire residence. He may have received drawing lessons in York (there is no proof that he attended St Martin’s Academy in London); alternatively he could have been instructed by a professional drawing-master such as Matthias Darly. There is evidence that Darly shared a house with Chippendale in Northumberland Court, London, in the early 1750s. A surviving invitation card of about 1753, decorated with a playful Rococo chinoiserie, is signed ‘T. Chippendale. Inv. M. Darly Sculp. Northumberland Court Strand’.

After occupying various premises, Chippendale eventually rented nos 60, 61 and 62 St Martin’s Lane in December 1753 for his cabinetmaking business. In 1754 he formed a partnership with James Rannie, a Scottish merchant whose contribution seems to have been largely financial. In April 1755 a workshop at the back of the St Martin’s Lane premises was burnt down, and 22 journeymen lost their toolchests. In 1768 Chippendale visited Paris, and in the following year a consignment of 60 French chair-frames was seized by Customs. Presumably he wished to enhance his reputation by stocking the latest French fashions. He fell foul of the Customs again when he was caught making illegally imported Indian chintz into bed-hangings for David Garrick’s villa.

Rannie’s death in 1766 and the terms of his will imposed severe strains on the business. In March of that year Chippendale was compelled to auction his stock-in-trade, ranging from bookcases, clothes-presses, chairs and carpets to fine planks of mahogany and other woods. Chippendale’s predicament was not helped by his clients’ dilatoriness when it came to settling accounts: several promissory notes from Sir Rowland Winn of Nostell Priory, W. Yorks, bounced, and Edwin Lascelles of Harewood neglected to pay a bill for over £3000, resulting in work coming to a temporary halt in 1771. Sir Edward Knatchbull of Mersham-le-Hatch replied to an entreaty ‘as I receive my rents once a year, so I pay my Tradesmens Bills once a year’. Injections of capital in 1771, when his bookkeeper, Thomas Haig, and one of the executors, Henry Ferguson, were taken into partnership, saved Chippendale from bankruptcy and allowed the firm to continue and prosper. He never made a fortune, however, as did John Gumley ( fl 1691–1727) or William Hallett sr (c. 1707–81), nor did he achieve the tycoon status of George Seddon. Chippendale died of consumption and was buried in the graveyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

The term ‘Chippendale’ is regularly used to denote English Rococo furniture inspired by the designs in Chippendale’s celebrated pattern book, the Gentleman and Cabinet-maker’s Director . The first edition of 1754 was dedicated to Hugh Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland; the 308 subscribers included Charles Howard, 10th Duke of Norfolk, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Sir Thomas Robinson (i), Director of Ranelagh pleasure gardens, the architect James Paine and such cabinetmakers as Paul Saunders (1722–71), John Channon (1711–c. 1783) and Otho Channon (1698–1756). The book contains 161 plates, the majority engraved by Matthias Darly. These include designs for a wide range of household furniture in the Gothic, Chinese and Rococo styles, as well as a repertory of plain domestic pieces. A virtually identical second edition of the Director was issued in 1755. The appearance in 1760 of William Ince and George Mayhew’s rival publication, the Universal System of Household Furniture, with a parallel French text, prompted a third enlarged and revised edition of the Director in 1762, dedicated this time to Prince William Henry. The new plates include several featuring Neo-classical designs. The book sold well and helped the firm to attract fashionable clients, ranging from the nobility to David Garrick, the actor. The Director was influential abroad, particularly in North America, and the publication of the third edition in French gave a further boost to international sales: Catherine II, Empress of Russia, possessed a copy.

Side chair (set of fourteen), each 972×559×571 mm, by Thomas…Although little is known about Chippendale’s private life, many letters and bills sent to his clients survive. His correspondence with Sir Rowland Winn is often animated and revealing about how the large commission to furnish Nostell Priory was handled. In addition to the Nostell archive, copious documentation is to be found in connection with work at Dumfries House, Ayrshire, Harewood House, W. Yorks, Mersham-le-Hatch, Kent, Paxton House, Berwicks, Burton Constable, Humberside, and Garrick’s two houses: his villa at Hampton, Middx, and his London residence at 5 Royal Adelphi Terrace. The names of over 60 patrons are known. As well as furniture and room schemes (see fig.), Chippendale designed wallpaper, chimney-pieces, carpets, ormolu and silverware, and his business ranged from the furnishing of state apartments to equipping servants’ quarters and acting as an undertaker. On one occasion he made furniture to a design supplied by Robert Adam; this was a drawing-room suite (part at Aske Hall, N. Yorks) ordered in 1765 by Sir Lawrence Dundas for his London residence at 19 Arlington Street (see ). Chippendale regularly conferred with architects when equipping the grand interiors they had designed, but at many houses he had sole control over the furnishing programme. It is unlikely that he personally made furniture after he had established himself in London. While Rannie and Haig kept the accounts, Chippendale seems to have concentrated on design, quality control and dealing with clients. Although his name is commonly associated with the Rococo designs of the Director, his finest furniture is in the Neo-classical style (e.g. the library table of inlaid satinwood supplied to Harewood House, 1771; Leeds, Temple Newsam House). The finest ensembles still in private houses include those at Dumfries House; Wilton House, Wilts; Nostell Priory; Aske Hall; Petworth House, W. Sussex; Newby Hall, N. Yorks; Brocket Hall, Herts; Burton Constable and Harewood (for illustration see Sideboard). A more light-hearted vein can be seen in the white-and-green painted furniture (some, c. 1768–78, at London, V&A) made for Garrick’s villa. Large collections of Chippendale’s manuscript designs are preserved in museums (New York, Met.; London, V&A), while others survive in country-house archives.

James Yorke. "Chippendale." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T017260pg1 (accessed May 2, 2012).