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Lot Essay
RENE DUBOIS AND HIS NEOCLASSICISM
René Dubois (1737-1799, maître in 1757) was the son of Jacques Dubois (1693-1763, maître in 1742), arguably one of the most accomplished ébénistes of the Louis XV era. Following his father's death in 1763, René took charge of the atelier under the direction of his mother and continued to use his father's stamp, including on the present lot. The inventory taken at the death of Jacques Dubois lists une table de bois d'amarante à la grecque, demonstrating that the Dubois workshop produced furniture in the latest 'Antique' fashion and suggesting that René had introduced a more up-to-date manner in the workshop during his father’s lifetime. In 1772, René's mother granted him full direction of the workshop, selling the stock to him for 25,002 livres, a significant sum indicating the continued importance of the workshop. René is recorded in the 1779 Almanach général des marchands as the ébéniste de la Reine, and also counted the Prince de Soubise amongst his patrons.
Today, Dubois is best known for his elegant and mature Neoclassical creations, produced after his takeover of his father’s workshos, such as his green and grisaille-decorated commodes and secretaires, and his restrained Greek-key-inlaid bureaux. It is important, however, to note Dubois's earlier work in the experimental early stages of Neoclassicism; he was among the first proponents of the goût grec. His early pioneering work produced during the first decade of his maîtrise can be characterized by its combination of the novel interest in the antique with the Baroque grandeur of Boulle. For a secrétaire of the same model, its sides veneered in Chinese lacquer, see the example circa 1770 illustrated in T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble en Laque aux XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 2000, p. 46, no. 30.
ELSIE DELORA KILVERT AND SAMUEL H. KRESS
Elsie Delora Kilvert, née Bernardo (1891-1961), was hailed by the Boston Globe upon her 1909 marriage to the cartoonist B. Cory Kilvert as "the prettiest and premier model in New York". By the 1920s, she had become the long-time companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), the retail magnate who assembled one of the most important collections of European art in the twentieth century and helped establish the National Gallery of Art. Mrs. Kilvert accompanied Kress on annual visits to Italy in the 1920s and 1930s and assisted in selecting works to furnish his duplex penthouse at 1020 Fifth Avenue, across from the Metropolitan Museum and just a few blocks north of Mrs. Aitken's apartment. Her contribution to the Kress Collection may even have included its very genesis: a November 1953 profile in Life magazine recounts that his collecting began around 1920, when she began bringing him to art galleries, having determined "to get Sam interested in beautiful things".
René Dubois (1737-1799, maître in 1757) was the son of Jacques Dubois (1693-1763, maître in 1742), arguably one of the most accomplished ébénistes of the Louis XV era. Following his father's death in 1763, René took charge of the atelier under the direction of his mother and continued to use his father's stamp, including on the present lot. The inventory taken at the death of Jacques Dubois lists une table de bois d'amarante à la grecque, demonstrating that the Dubois workshop produced furniture in the latest 'Antique' fashion and suggesting that René had introduced a more up-to-date manner in the workshop during his father’s lifetime. In 1772, René's mother granted him full direction of the workshop, selling the stock to him for 25,002 livres, a significant sum indicating the continued importance of the workshop. René is recorded in the 1779 Almanach général des marchands as the ébéniste de la Reine, and also counted the Prince de Soubise amongst his patrons.
Today, Dubois is best known for his elegant and mature Neoclassical creations, produced after his takeover of his father’s workshos, such as his green and grisaille-decorated commodes and secretaires, and his restrained Greek-key-inlaid bureaux. It is important, however, to note Dubois's earlier work in the experimental early stages of Neoclassicism; he was among the first proponents of the goût grec. His early pioneering work produced during the first decade of his maîtrise can be characterized by its combination of the novel interest in the antique with the Baroque grandeur of Boulle. For a secrétaire of the same model, its sides veneered in Chinese lacquer, see the example circa 1770 illustrated in T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble en Laque aux XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 2000, p. 46, no. 30.
ELSIE DELORA KILVERT AND SAMUEL H. KRESS
Elsie Delora Kilvert, née Bernardo (1891-1961), was hailed by the Boston Globe upon her 1909 marriage to the cartoonist B. Cory Kilvert as "the prettiest and premier model in New York". By the 1920s, she had become the long-time companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), the retail magnate who assembled one of the most important collections of European art in the twentieth century and helped establish the National Gallery of Art. Mrs. Kilvert accompanied Kress on annual visits to Italy in the 1920s and 1930s and assisted in selecting works to furnish his duplex penthouse at 1020 Fifth Avenue, across from the Metropolitan Museum and just a few blocks north of Mrs. Aitken's apartment. Her contribution to the Kress Collection may even have included its very genesis: a November 1953 profile in Life magazine recounts that his collecting began around 1920, when she began bringing him to art galleries, having determined "to get Sam interested in beautiful things".