.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This impressive chandelier embodies the grandiloquent opulence of the 'Louis Quatorze' style of Regency and early Victorian interiors, when pattern books by 18th century French ornemanistes such as Pierre Le Pautre often provided design sources.
Related chandeliers were supplied as part of George IV's lavish refurbishment of Windsor Castle in the late 1820's by the firms of W. and G. Perry and Hancock and Rixon to the Library or Green Drawing Room and the Small or White Drawing Room, respectively (see H. Roberts, For the King's Pleasure, London, 2001, p. 109, fig. 104, and p. 129, fig. 142). A design for a chandelier by the architect Jeffrey Wyattville, which shares much of the rich ornamental vocabulary of the chandelier offered here, is illustrated Roberts, op. cit.,, p. 129, fig. 140.
At the same time as the interiors of Windsor Castle were being refurbished in such a lavish, Francophile style, the king's brother, the Duke of York, was building York House (now known as Lancaster House and arguably London's greatest town house). Its interiors, which were continued in the 1830's by the Marquis of Stafford and his son the 2nd Duke of Sutherland were conceived in an even more overtly French and opulent style under the guidance of the architects Benjamin Wyatt, Robert Smirke and Charles Barry. An elaborate gilt-bronze balustrade for the central staircase, following the designs of Pierre Le Pautre, was supplied by the firm of Joseph Bramah, while a chandelier related to the example offered here appears in a late 19th century view of the Drawing Room (illustrated in J. Yorke, Lancaster House, London, 2001, p. 103, fig. 68).
Related chandeliers were supplied as part of George IV's lavish refurbishment of Windsor Castle in the late 1820's by the firms of W. and G. Perry and Hancock and Rixon to the Library or Green Drawing Room and the Small or White Drawing Room, respectively (see H. Roberts, For the King's Pleasure, London, 2001, p. 109, fig. 104, and p. 129, fig. 142). A design for a chandelier by the architect Jeffrey Wyattville, which shares much of the rich ornamental vocabulary of the chandelier offered here, is illustrated Roberts, op. cit.,, p. 129, fig. 140.
At the same time as the interiors of Windsor Castle were being refurbished in such a lavish, Francophile style, the king's brother, the Duke of York, was building York House (now known as Lancaster House and arguably London's greatest town house). Its interiors, which were continued in the 1830's by the Marquis of Stafford and his son the 2nd Duke of Sutherland were conceived in an even more overtly French and opulent style under the guidance of the architects Benjamin Wyatt, Robert Smirke and Charles Barry. An elaborate gilt-bronze balustrade for the central staircase, following the designs of Pierre Le Pautre, was supplied by the firm of Joseph Bramah, while a chandelier related to the example offered here appears in a late 19th century view of the Drawing Room (illustrated in J. Yorke, Lancaster House, London, 2001, p. 103, fig. 68).