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Lot Essay
Thomas Hope was born in Amsterdam around 1770, the eldest of three sons of John Hope and his wife P.B. Vander Hoeven. The Hopes were an immensely wealthy family who counted the Prince of Orange among their intimate friends. Thomas studied architecture and spent several years travelling and sketching in Egypt, Greece, Turkey and other countries before settling in England in about 1796. Primarily known in his day as the author of The History of Architecture and most famously Household Furniture and Interior Decoration of 1807, he also published anonymously a romance, Anastasius which was attributed to Byron by the Edinburgh Review. Even once Hope had claimed authorship this was disputed by the Review as the reviewer Sydney Smith could scarcely believe that Hope, 'the man of chairs and tables, the gentleman of sofas' could author a work not unworthy of Tacitus.
A patron of Flaxman and Canova and a great collector of Italian paintings, ancient marbles and sculptures, with which he adorned his homes at Duchess Street, London, and Deepdene, Surrey, Hope was enormously influential in bringing the neo-classical style to the forefront of popularity. His London house he decorated after classical and oriental models and in 1801 he purchased sixteen cases of Sir William Hamilton's ancient vase collection for the enormous sum of 4,500 guineas. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries. He married on 16 April 1806, the Hon. Louisa Beresford, daughter of the Most Rev. Lord Decies, Archbishop of Tuam and they had three surviving sons. The couple were caricatured by Dubost in 1810 as 'Beauty and the Beast' after a dispute about the price of a picture. Hope died in his London house on 3 February 1831.
The linear neo-classical design of this service is echoed in many other pieces known to have been made by John Bridge for Rundells. These include include a pair of wine-coolers, 1826 made for George IV and a second pair, 1827 made for Thomas Hope which are now in a private collection.
A patron of Flaxman and Canova and a great collector of Italian paintings, ancient marbles and sculptures, with which he adorned his homes at Duchess Street, London, and Deepdene, Surrey, Hope was enormously influential in bringing the neo-classical style to the forefront of popularity. His London house he decorated after classical and oriental models and in 1801 he purchased sixteen cases of Sir William Hamilton's ancient vase collection for the enormous sum of 4,500 guineas. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries. He married on 16 April 1806, the Hon. Louisa Beresford, daughter of the Most Rev. Lord Decies, Archbishop of Tuam and they had three surviving sons. The couple were caricatured by Dubost in 1810 as 'Beauty and the Beast' after a dispute about the price of a picture. Hope died in his London house on 3 February 1831.
The linear neo-classical design of this service is echoed in many other pieces known to have been made by John Bridge for Rundells. These include include a pair of wine-coolers, 1826 made for George IV and a second pair, 1827 made for Thomas Hope which are now in a private collection.