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Lot Essay
A MASTERPIECE FROM ST. GILES’S HOUSE: THE ST. GILES’S CHANDELIER
This magnificent giltwood chandelier is one of the most spectacular examples known of its kind. Tied to some of the greatest names in English furniture, it was part of one of most renowned mid-Georgian interiors of the era: St. Giles's House, Dorset. The chandelier was supplied to Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury (1711-1771) for the State Dining Room as part of the creation and furnishing of a set of State Rooms in the early 1740s. Although active in government and philanthropy, the 4th Earl of Shaftesbury was also a devoted connoisseur and a collector. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he had both the means and the interest which was unusually shared by his wife, Lady Susannah Noel (d.1758). A daughter of the 3rd Earl of Gainsborough and a granddaughter of the Duke of Rutland, the Countess of Shaftesbury was particularly interested in furniture; she was one of only four women to subscribe to Thomas Chippendale’s 1753 pattern-book which preceded The Gentleman and Cabinet-Makers Director the following year. St. Giles's was the focal point of their aesthetic ambitions, and their patronage of the leading architects and craftsmen of the day created a collection that remained remarkably intact until the middle of the 20th century.
THE EARLS OF SHAFTESBURY AND ST. GILES'S HOUSE
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury (d.1771) inherited St. Giles's House Dorset, as it was historically known, in 1713. It was originally built in 1651 by the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621-1683) who inherited extensive estates and other holdings which made him one of the wealthiest men in England. Under Henry Flitcroft (d.1767) and his successor, Stephen Wright (d.1780), the original Jacobean residence underwent a long-term refurbishment that reflected the aesthetic transition from the Roman villa inspired grandeur to the incorporation of the ‘Modern’ taste which infused St. Giles’s with novelty’ and ‘variety’ as lauded by the artist, William Hogarth’s Analysis of Beauty (1753). This natural evolution under a sophisticated and enlightened patron resulted in the creation of into one of England’s grandest mid-Georgian interiors. This chandelier was part of the 26 June 1980 auction at Christie’s London of property from St. Giles’s house sold by the order of the Trustees of the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury. This auction included other Palladian furniture also presumably designed by Flitcroft as well as the St. Giles’s suite, a large group of seat-furniture comprising eight armchairs and two sofas which is considered to be one of the best suites of its kind ever produced. Attributed to William Vile, two of the armchairs are also in the Getty Collection and are the subsequent lot.
THE COMMISSION
The State Rooms were designed in the fashionable Palladian style by the architect Henry Flitcroft (1697-1769) a protégé of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753) whose vision of a Roman style of British interior architecture became the quintessential aesthetic of the British country house. Flitcroft’s embrace of this Roman vision earned him the nickname ‘Burlington Harry,’ a fitting tribute for a former carpenter at Burlington House. It was only during his recuperation from a building accident that Flitcroft’s talent for drawing caught Lord Burlington’s attention and Flitcroft became Burlington’s draftsman and architectural assistant. Burlington’s influence led Flitcroft to work for several years under William Kent (d.1748), Director of the Royal Board of Architectural Works and perhaps Burlington’s most famous protégé; Flitcroft assumed the Directorship upon Kent’s death. In addition to his formal role, Flitcroft also undertook independent commissions for such distinguished patrons as the Duke of Cumberland, son of George II and Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.
Like Kent, Flitcroft provided furniture designs to complement the architecture and symbolism of his patrons' rooms. Although no specific accounts for the State Dining Room are currently known to exist, records in the Shaftsbury archives indicate payments in 1742 and 1743 for `surveying and making plans for St. Giles's House', and for `Drawing and etc', in 1744, which likely refer to the planned re-decoration of the White Hall, the Dining Room, the Tapestry Room and the Large Drawing Room.
The white and gilt-decorated interior of the State Dining Room miraculously stayed intact for over two hundred years. Its richly carved domed ceiling, chimneypiece and overmantel was furnished with pairs of giltwood console tables. Above them were mirrors, wall-lights and family portraits in Palladian designed frames creating a seamless integration between architecture and design, with the ornament in the room such as bacchic masks and eagles also echoed in the chandelier, as one can see in the fascinating Serebriakoff watercolor illustrated here, showing the chandelier in situ and the wall lights carved with eagles which were clearly designed en suite with the chandelier (the wall-lights were sold as lot 24 in the 1980 sale).
THE ATTRIBUTION
A tour de force of carving and design, its execution is attributed to Matthias Lock. A superlative craftsman, he was described by his contemporary, the carver and gilder, Thomas Johnson (1714-circa 1778) as ‘the famous Matthias Lock, a most excellent Carver, and reputed to be the best Ornament draughts-man in Europe’ ( J. Simon, ‘Thomas Johnson’s “The Life of the Author,” Furniture History, vol. 39, 2003, p. 3). Though a published designer in his own right, during the time of the St. Giles’s commission Lock was working for the carver and gilder, James Whittle (1731-1759) who may have received the commission from Flitcroft. Intriguingly, it may have been the basis of one of his subsequent designs; Lock’s 1752 ‘A New Book of Ornaments’ [Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 28.88.7] illustrates a related chandelier.
Flitcroft’s choice of giltwood for this chandelier provided an aesthetically seamless integration for the interior of the State Dining room and one which is a rarity for chandeliers executed at this time. Only two other examples are known to exist; one of which is a virtually identical larger version of the St. Giles's chandelier and was almost certainly executed by the same maker. It was part of the Palladian interior of the State Dining Room at Hornby Castle, North Yorkshire and sold in the Hochschild Collection at Sotheby’s London, 1 December 1978, lot 40. The original patron of this commission is somewhat shrouded in mystery as Hornby Castle came into the family as part of the marriage settlement of Lady Amelia D’Arcy (1754-1784) the sole heiress to the 4th Earl of Holderness to Francis Osborne (1751-1799), 5th Duke of Leeds. It only became their principal seat after Kiveton Hall, Yorkshire, the original home of the Dukes of Leeds was demolished in 1811. Another related giltwood chandelier which lacks the Bacchic masks was in the collection of Irwin Untermyer and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [50.82].
WENDELL CHERRY
This chandelier was in the collection of Wendell Cherry (1935-1991), an entrepreneur and philanthropist who was named by Art and Antiques as one of America’s top 100 art collectors in 1985. The collection he assembled in the 1980’s with his wife, Dorothy, included Old Master and Impressionist paintings, French and English furniture, and works of art, all of which had to be of the highest quality and historical significance. The centerpiece of the collection was John Singer Sargent’s (1856-1925) Spanish Dancer from 1880, a previously lost work and an important predecessor of his iconic Il Jaleo 1882 in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.
This magnificent giltwood chandelier is one of the most spectacular examples known of its kind. Tied to some of the greatest names in English furniture, it was part of one of most renowned mid-Georgian interiors of the era: St. Giles's House, Dorset. The chandelier was supplied to Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury (1711-1771) for the State Dining Room as part of the creation and furnishing of a set of State Rooms in the early 1740s. Although active in government and philanthropy, the 4th Earl of Shaftesbury was also a devoted connoisseur and a collector. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he had both the means and the interest which was unusually shared by his wife, Lady Susannah Noel (d.1758). A daughter of the 3rd Earl of Gainsborough and a granddaughter of the Duke of Rutland, the Countess of Shaftesbury was particularly interested in furniture; she was one of only four women to subscribe to Thomas Chippendale’s 1753 pattern-book which preceded The Gentleman and Cabinet-Makers Director the following year. St. Giles's was the focal point of their aesthetic ambitions, and their patronage of the leading architects and craftsmen of the day created a collection that remained remarkably intact until the middle of the 20th century.
THE EARLS OF SHAFTESBURY AND ST. GILES'S HOUSE
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury (d.1771) inherited St. Giles's House Dorset, as it was historically known, in 1713. It was originally built in 1651 by the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621-1683) who inherited extensive estates and other holdings which made him one of the wealthiest men in England. Under Henry Flitcroft (d.1767) and his successor, Stephen Wright (d.1780), the original Jacobean residence underwent a long-term refurbishment that reflected the aesthetic transition from the Roman villa inspired grandeur to the incorporation of the ‘Modern’ taste which infused St. Giles’s with novelty’ and ‘variety’ as lauded by the artist, William Hogarth’s Analysis of Beauty (1753). This natural evolution under a sophisticated and enlightened patron resulted in the creation of into one of England’s grandest mid-Georgian interiors. This chandelier was part of the 26 June 1980 auction at Christie’s London of property from St. Giles’s house sold by the order of the Trustees of the 10th Earl of Shaftesbury. This auction included other Palladian furniture also presumably designed by Flitcroft as well as the St. Giles’s suite, a large group of seat-furniture comprising eight armchairs and two sofas which is considered to be one of the best suites of its kind ever produced. Attributed to William Vile, two of the armchairs are also in the Getty Collection and are the subsequent lot.
THE COMMISSION
The State Rooms were designed in the fashionable Palladian style by the architect Henry Flitcroft (1697-1769) a protégé of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753) whose vision of a Roman style of British interior architecture became the quintessential aesthetic of the British country house. Flitcroft’s embrace of this Roman vision earned him the nickname ‘Burlington Harry,’ a fitting tribute for a former carpenter at Burlington House. It was only during his recuperation from a building accident that Flitcroft’s talent for drawing caught Lord Burlington’s attention and Flitcroft became Burlington’s draftsman and architectural assistant. Burlington’s influence led Flitcroft to work for several years under William Kent (d.1748), Director of the Royal Board of Architectural Works and perhaps Burlington’s most famous protégé; Flitcroft assumed the Directorship upon Kent’s death. In addition to his formal role, Flitcroft also undertook independent commissions for such distinguished patrons as the Duke of Cumberland, son of George II and Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough.
Like Kent, Flitcroft provided furniture designs to complement the architecture and symbolism of his patrons' rooms. Although no specific accounts for the State Dining Room are currently known to exist, records in the Shaftsbury archives indicate payments in 1742 and 1743 for `surveying and making plans for St. Giles's House', and for `Drawing and etc', in 1744, which likely refer to the planned re-decoration of the White Hall, the Dining Room, the Tapestry Room and the Large Drawing Room.
The white and gilt-decorated interior of the State Dining Room miraculously stayed intact for over two hundred years. Its richly carved domed ceiling, chimneypiece and overmantel was furnished with pairs of giltwood console tables. Above them were mirrors, wall-lights and family portraits in Palladian designed frames creating a seamless integration between architecture and design, with the ornament in the room such as bacchic masks and eagles also echoed in the chandelier, as one can see in the fascinating Serebriakoff watercolor illustrated here, showing the chandelier in situ and the wall lights carved with eagles which were clearly designed en suite with the chandelier (the wall-lights were sold as lot 24 in the 1980 sale).
THE ATTRIBUTION
A tour de force of carving and design, its execution is attributed to Matthias Lock. A superlative craftsman, he was described by his contemporary, the carver and gilder, Thomas Johnson (1714-circa 1778) as ‘the famous Matthias Lock, a most excellent Carver, and reputed to be the best Ornament draughts-man in Europe’ ( J. Simon, ‘Thomas Johnson’s “The Life of the Author,” Furniture History, vol. 39, 2003, p. 3). Though a published designer in his own right, during the time of the St. Giles’s commission Lock was working for the carver and gilder, James Whittle (1731-1759) who may have received the commission from Flitcroft. Intriguingly, it may have been the basis of one of his subsequent designs; Lock’s 1752 ‘A New Book of Ornaments’ [Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 28.88.7] illustrates a related chandelier.
Flitcroft’s choice of giltwood for this chandelier provided an aesthetically seamless integration for the interior of the State Dining room and one which is a rarity for chandeliers executed at this time. Only two other examples are known to exist; one of which is a virtually identical larger version of the St. Giles's chandelier and was almost certainly executed by the same maker. It was part of the Palladian interior of the State Dining Room at Hornby Castle, North Yorkshire and sold in the Hochschild Collection at Sotheby’s London, 1 December 1978, lot 40. The original patron of this commission is somewhat shrouded in mystery as Hornby Castle came into the family as part of the marriage settlement of Lady Amelia D’Arcy (1754-1784) the sole heiress to the 4th Earl of Holderness to Francis Osborne (1751-1799), 5th Duke of Leeds. It only became their principal seat after Kiveton Hall, Yorkshire, the original home of the Dukes of Leeds was demolished in 1811. Another related giltwood chandelier which lacks the Bacchic masks was in the collection of Irwin Untermyer and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [50.82].
WENDELL CHERRY
This chandelier was in the collection of Wendell Cherry (1935-1991), an entrepreneur and philanthropist who was named by Art and Antiques as one of America’s top 100 art collectors in 1985. The collection he assembled in the 1980’s with his wife, Dorothy, included Old Master and Impressionist paintings, French and English furniture, and works of art, all of which had to be of the highest quality and historical significance. The centerpiece of the collection was John Singer Sargent’s (1856-1925) Spanish Dancer from 1880, a previously lost work and an important predecessor of his iconic Il Jaleo 1882 in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.