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Thomas Sheraton
English, 1751 - 1806
English furniture designer. In his obituary he was described as ‘a native of Stockton-upon-Tees, and for many years a journeyman cabinetmaker, but who since about the year 1793, has supported himself, a wife and two children, by his exertions as an author’. In his first pattern-book of 1791–3 he described himself as a cabinetmaker, but a trade card of about 1796 (London, BM) indicates that he was a professional furniture designer and drawing-master rather than the owner of a workshop. He is first recorded as being in London in 1791 but he returned to Co. Durham c. 1800–02, where he was ordained as a Baptist minister. His remaining four years were spent in London, and he was buried at St James’s, Piccadilly. In 1804 he was described by Adam Black, a publisher, as ‘a Man of Talents, and, I believe, of genuine piety. He understands the cabinet business—I believe was bred to it, he has been, and perhaps at present is, a preacher; he is a scholar, writes well; draws, in my opinion masterly; is an author, bookseller, stationer and teacher’.
Sheraton gained his reputation through his pattern-books, the first being the Cabinet-maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing-book, issued in parts between 1791 and 1793. A second, slightly enlarged edition appeared in 1794, and a third, with trifling alterations, in 1802. Prominence was given to Carlton House (destr.), London, the new residence of the Prince of Wales (later George IV). This includes a view of the dining-room, dominated by the single large dining-room table, still something of a novelty in the 1790s, and of the Chinese Drawing-room. It would suggest that he was hoping to capitalize on the latest court fashions and possibly gain royal patronage. Included in the architectural and perspective drawing exercises are suggestions for the use of timbers (mahogany being considered a ‘masculine’ timber suitable for dining-rooms or libraries, and satinwood for more feminine surroundings) and a series of fluent designs, ranging from kidney-shaped desks to ingenious multi-purpose furniture such as a lady’s dressing-table with a cylindrical cupboard designed to accommodate a lady’s hat, or another with a rising screen to protect her face from the fire. The backs of many chairs are squared, and the legs reeded. Sheraton recommended that ‘dining-parlour’ furniture should be ‘substantial and useful … avoiding trifling ornaments and unnecessary decoration’. The chairs in the dining-room at Carlton House had mahogany backs and leather seats. The Drawing Book was influential in the USA, and a German edition was published in Leipzig in 1794.
In 1803 Sheraton brought out the Cabinet Dictionary, which contains ‘An explanation of all the terms used in the Cabinet, chair and upholstery branches’. The designs, on 79 plates, include such progressive Regency pieces as Grecian couches, animal monopodia, lion masks and chairs with the front legs curving forwards, the ‘sabre’ design that was to become standard during the early 19th century. His ambitious final work, the Cabinet-maker, Upholsterer, and General Artist’s Encyclopaedia (1804–6), was to be published in 125 parts, although only 30 sections, A–Capstan, ever appeared. This was the first English pattern-book to feature Egyptian motifs. In 1812 Josiah Taylor reissued 84 of Sheraton’s plates in a single folio volume entitled Designs for Household Furniture by the Late Thomas Sheraton. In 1895 Batsford published a facsimile of the Drawing Book, which helped to inspire a Sheraton revival.
There survives one pen-and-wash drawing (c. 1790; London, V&A) by Sheraton of a mirror. He designed a piano (Boston, MA, Mus. F.A.) that Messrs Broadwood built in 1796 for Manuel Godoy, Príncipe de la Paz, to present to Queen Louise of Spain. Sheraton is largely remembered as a distinguished and influential furniture designer, whose name is deservedly used as a convenient label to describe a phase of late 18th-century taste.
James Yorke. "Sheraton, Thomas." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T078193 (accessed May 2, 2012).
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