CIRCA 1770, ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN LINNELL

This settee forms part of a large suite comprising at least twenty-six armchairs and a pair of settees which reputedly belonged to the Earls of Louth, Louth Hall, Ireland. This suite can be attributed to John Linnell, cabinetmaker of Berkeley Square, based on its similarities to Linnell designs and other furniture known to have come from his workshop. A pen and ink drawing of an armchair features the same rounded handholds, cuffed tapering legs with panels enclosing carving and ornamented crestrail (see H.Hayward, 'The Drawings of John Linnell in the Victoria and Albert Museum', Furniture History, 1969, fig.16). Another related design for a settee is illustrated in H.Hayward and P.Kirkham, William and John Linnell, 1980, vol.II, p.132, fig.260. Suites of seat furniture which feature some of these same characteristics include a set of chairs supplied for Harewood House, Yorkshire and a suite supplied to the Duke of Argyll for Inverary Castle (illustrated in H.Hayward and P.Kirkham, op.cit, pp.45-46, figs.88-89).

This seating furniture was probably purchased from Otway Michael James Oliver Plunkett, 16th Baron Louth by Senator Edward McGuire after the Second World War when he was forming his collection of 17th and 18th century European paintings, English and Irish furniture and porcelain. He purchased Newtown Park, a Georgian home designed by architect James Gandon, in 1946. Armchairs from the suite are illustrated in situ in the Dining Room at Newtown Park in an article published by The Magazine Antiques in 1950 (see P.Hunt, 'Newtown Park', The Magazine Antiques, October 1950, pp.297-299). Twenty-six armchairs and two settees were purchased by the New York dealers, French & Company in 1957.