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Lot Essay
These golden French 'cabriolet' chairs, with their distinctive step-down seat-rail, can confidently be attributed to François Hervé (d.1796). They originally formed part of an extensive suite (lots 52-54) of at least 3 bergères, a sofa, 14 armchairs and 17 side chairs supplied to Althorp around 1791, where the rest of the suite remains.
Interestingly, a directly related suite was commissioned in 1782 by George John, 2nd Earl Spencer's sister Georgiana and her husband William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1811) for Chatsworth, Derbyshire (I. Hall, 'A neoclassical episode at Chatsworth', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 122, June 1980, pp. 400-414). These are likely to have been designed by the Prince of Wales's Panton Street marchand-mercier William (or Guillaume) Gaubert, who advertised himself as 'Maker of Ornamental furniture' and preceeded Dominique Daguerre as 'Clerk of Works' in the decoration of Carlton House. Hervé, no doubt, was amongst those to whom Gaubert referred, when he wrote in 1786 of others having, 'workd after my drawings'. These chairs would also fit Horace Walpole's description of his work for the Prince in 1785, as being 'delicate and new' and 'rather classic than French' (D. Stroud, Henry Holland: His Life and Architecture, London, 1966, pp. 64 and 73).
Interestingly, a directly related suite was commissioned in 1782 by George John, 2nd Earl Spencer's sister Georgiana and her husband William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1811) for Chatsworth, Derbyshire (I. Hall, 'A neoclassical episode at Chatsworth', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 122, June 1980, pp. 400-414). These are likely to have been designed by the Prince of Wales's Panton Street marchand-mercier William (or Guillaume) Gaubert, who advertised himself as 'Maker of Ornamental furniture' and preceeded Dominique Daguerre as 'Clerk of Works' in the decoration of Carlton House. Hervé, no doubt, was amongst those to whom Gaubert referred, when he wrote in 1786 of others having, 'workd after my drawings'. These chairs would also fit Horace Walpole's description of his work for the Prince in 1785, as being 'delicate and new' and 'rather classic than French' (D. Stroud, Henry Holland: His Life and Architecture, London, 1966, pp. 64 and 73).