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Lot Essay
Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix, maître in 1755.
Roger van der Cruse, known as Lacroix, was one of the premier ébénistes who worked in the transitional style between the Louis XV and Louis XVI eras. He was born the son of the ouvrier libre François van der Cruse in 1728 and was related by his sisters’ marriage to the maître-ébénistes Jean-François Oeben and to Jean-Henri Riesener. Elected maître in 1755, Roger took over his father's business and was soon supplying furniture to the ébéniste Pierre II Migeon, the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier and directly to Madame du Barry at Louveciennes, the Garde-Meuble and the duc d'Orléans.
The art collections at Mentmore were among the most outstanding of their kind anywhere in the world, prompting Lady Eastlake to comment: 'I do not believe that the Medici were ever so lodged at the height of their glory'. Mentmore was built between 1852 and 1854 by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, who needed a house near to London and in close proximity to other Rothschild homes at Tring, Ascot, Aston Clinton and later Waddesdon and Halton House. The plans for the mansion imitated Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire and were drawn up by the gardener turned architect Joseph Paxton, celebrated for his Crystal Palace, completed the year earlier. Sumptuously furnished with extraordinary works of art in every field, on his death in 1874, Baron Mayer left Mentmore and a fortune of some £2,000,000 to his daughter, Hannah de Rothschild. Four years later Hannah married Archibald Philip, 5th Earl of Rosebery, who added considerably to the collections assembled by his father-in-law and it remained largely intact until the dispersal of the contents in 1977.
Roger van der Cruse, known as Lacroix, was one of the premier ébénistes who worked in the transitional style between the Louis XV and Louis XVI eras. He was born the son of the ouvrier libre François van der Cruse in 1728 and was related by his sisters’ marriage to the maître-ébénistes Jean-François Oeben and to Jean-Henri Riesener. Elected maître in 1755, Roger took over his father's business and was soon supplying furniture to the ébéniste Pierre II Migeon, the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier and directly to Madame du Barry at Louveciennes, the Garde-Meuble and the duc d'Orléans.
The art collections at Mentmore were among the most outstanding of their kind anywhere in the world, prompting Lady Eastlake to comment: 'I do not believe that the Medici were ever so lodged at the height of their glory'. Mentmore was built between 1852 and 1854 by Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, who needed a house near to London and in close proximity to other Rothschild homes at Tring, Ascot, Aston Clinton and later Waddesdon and Halton House. The plans for the mansion imitated Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire and were drawn up by the gardener turned architect Joseph Paxton, celebrated for his Crystal Palace, completed the year earlier. Sumptuously furnished with extraordinary works of art in every field, on his death in 1874, Baron Mayer left Mentmore and a fortune of some £2,000,000 to his daughter, Hannah de Rothschild. Four years later Hannah married Archibald Philip, 5th Earl of Rosebery, who added considerably to the collections assembled by his father-in-law and it remained largely intact until the dispersal of the contents in 1977.