Georg Haupt (10 August 1741, in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
– 18 September 1784, in Stockholm) was a Swedish
cabinet maker
A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (s ...
. Haupt was the son of a Nuremberg carpenter
[Fleming, John & ]Hugh Honour
Hugh Honour FRSL (26 September 1927 – 19 May 2016) was a British art historian, known for his writing partnership with John Fleming (art historian), John Fleming. Their ''A World History of Art'' (a.k.a. ''The Visual Arts: A History''), is now ...
. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London: Allen Lane
Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fictio ...
, p. 369. and learnt his trade as an apprentice of Johan Conrad Eckstein in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, after which he travelled as a journeyman to
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, Paris and London. He became cabinetmaker to King
Adolphus Frederick in 1769 and a master carpenter and burgess in Stockholm in 1770 and 1771, respectively.
Biography
Haupt learnt his trade during a period when the French
rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
had established itself in Swedish furniture design, but came to Paris in 1764, when the
neoclassical style later known under the name of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
had started to gain ground. Details of his life in Paris are scarce but he was probably employed in the workshop of Simon Oeben, the brother of the better-known
Jean-François Oeben
Jean-François Oeben, or Johann Franz Oeben (9 October 1721
Heinsberg near Aachen – Paris 21 January 1763) was a German ébéniste (cabinetmaker) whose career was spent in Paris. He was the maternal grandfather of the painter Eugène Delacroix.
...
. He had come to London at some point before early February 1768, and may have been independently active as a cabinetmaker—a possibility thanks to the more liberal trade regulations in England—and remained there until July 1769, when his appointment as cabinetmaker to the King prompted him to return to Stockholm. His first royal commission was to be a desk intended as a gift for the Queen. After some pressure from the King, the Stockholm carpentry guild allowed him to use the completed piece to
qualify as a master, even though there were Stockholm journeymen older than him waiting for their turn. Having been allowed into the Guild in 1770, he became a burgess in Stockholm the following year, establishing a workshop in rented premises at Trumpetarbacken,
Norrmalm
Norrmalm is a city district in Stockholm, Sweden.
History
Norrmalm is part of the larger borough of Norrmalm (''Norrmalms stadsdelsomrĂĄde'').
The southern part of the district, Lower Norrmalm (''Nedre Norrmalm''), also known as City, const ...
, which during the following years would employ three and later four journeymen and a few apprentices and produce furniture for the royal court and the Swedish social and economic elite. His reputation increased after his finishing of a mineral cabinet (depicted) for the
Prince of Condé
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
.
Haupt's style was characterized by detailed
intarsia
Intarsia is a form of wood inlaying that is similar to marquetry. The start of the practice dates from before the seventh century AD. The technique of intarsia inlays sections of wood (at times with contrasting ivory or bone, or mother-of-pear ...
combining different woods of varying colour and structure. Even though Haupt's own furniture never reached outside the elite that could afford his prices, his style was popularized by a number of contemporaries and his influence on Swedish furniture making was great during his own lifetime. Original pieces by Haupt can be found in the Nodiska Museet, Stockholm. This style was later reintroduced in Sweden by Evald Hermansson (1902 - 1972) in the 1930's and 1940's using a variety of woods.
Soon after his sudden death from a stroke in 1784, fashion moved towards a more simplified style. After his death, his widow, Sara Catharina Thuring, continued to run the workshop until she remarried one of her husband's former journeymen, Gustaf Adolf Ditzinger, who had at that point recently become a master.
Work
file:ByrĂĄ Haupt.jpg, Chest of drawers made by Haupt in 1780.
File:CoA Condé Cabinet minéralogie Chantilly.jpg, Detail of Haupt's mineral cabinet for the Prince of Condé (1774).
File:George haupt, cassettone, 1781.JPG, Commode designed by Haupt.
References and sources
;References
;Sources
*Lagerquist, Marshall: "Haupt, Georg", ''Svenskt biografiskt lexikon'', Vol. 18 (Stockholm 1969–1971), pp. 349–352
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haupt, Georg
Swedish cabinetmakers
1741 births
1784 deaths
Businesspeople from Stockholm