Lot Essay
Cleveland House, on the corner of St. James's Square and
King Street, was inherited by the 2nd Earl of Darlington in 1774. His mother was the last of the Fitzroy descendants of Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland. It is most likely that these chairs were commissioned as part of any refurbishment that he undertook on inheriting the house. Stylistically they seem to date from the mid-1770s. The modern striped upholstery suggests that they were once covered in the elegant 19th Century stripe that remains on lots 40-47.
The medallion-backed pattern, with a richly-beaded frame, relates extremely closely to the 1770s work in the Louis XVI style of the Berkeley Square upholsterer, John Linnell (d.1796). The most closely related provenanced suite is one in the Tapestry Room at Osterley Park, Middlesex, that is better known for its Gobelins covering and which was supplied by Linnell to Robert Child in 1775-6. Those chairs share the 'pearled' lower frames and the stiff, rather upright, front arm profile. It is tempting to associate this arm-profile with Linnell exclusively; it appears on a room sketch with cabriole chairs arranged along the wall in his sketch-book at the Victoria and Albert Museum (see: H. Hayward, 'The Drawings of John Linnell in the Victoria and Albert Museum', Furniture History, 1967, fig. 168) The rose-head cresting is shared with a suite that is confidently attributed to Linnell and which was supplied circa 1775 to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Bt., whose magnificent London house was next door to Cleveland House, at 20 St. James's Square. The latter suite was subsequently sold by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 11th Bt., Sotheby's London, 19 November 1993, lot 87. Helena Hayward has noted how Linnell was inspired by the chair-frames of Louis Delanois and the rose-head cresting was a very popular motif of his (see: H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. I, p. 83 and vol. II, p. 47, fig. 92).
A pair of chairs of this model but with plainer legs were sold by the Duke of Abercorn, Christie's London, 26 May 1966, lot 55
King Street, was inherited by the 2nd Earl of Darlington in 1774. His mother was the last of the Fitzroy descendants of Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland. It is most likely that these chairs were commissioned as part of any refurbishment that he undertook on inheriting the house. Stylistically they seem to date from the mid-1770s. The modern striped upholstery suggests that they were once covered in the elegant 19th Century stripe that remains on lots 40-47.
The medallion-backed pattern, with a richly-beaded frame, relates extremely closely to the 1770s work in the Louis XVI style of the Berkeley Square upholsterer, John Linnell (d.1796). The most closely related provenanced suite is one in the Tapestry Room at Osterley Park, Middlesex, that is better known for its Gobelins covering and which was supplied by Linnell to Robert Child in 1775-6. Those chairs share the 'pearled' lower frames and the stiff, rather upright, front arm profile. It is tempting to associate this arm-profile with Linnell exclusively; it appears on a room sketch with cabriole chairs arranged along the wall in his sketch-book at the Victoria and Albert Museum (see: H. Hayward, 'The Drawings of John Linnell in the Victoria and Albert Museum', Furniture History, 1967, fig. 168) The rose-head cresting is shared with a suite that is confidently attributed to Linnell and which was supplied circa 1775 to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Bt., whose magnificent London house was next door to Cleveland House, at 20 St. James's Square. The latter suite was subsequently sold by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 11th Bt., Sotheby's London, 19 November 1993, lot 87. Helena Hayward has noted how Linnell was inspired by the chair-frames of Louis Delanois and the rose-head cresting was a very popular motif of his (see: H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. I, p. 83 and vol. II, p. 47, fig. 92).
A pair of chairs of this model but with plainer legs were sold by the Duke of Abercorn, Christie's London, 26 May 1966, lot 55