![Portrait-de-Georges-jacob](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Portrait-de-Georges-jacob.jpg)
Georges Jacob (6 July 1739 – 5 July 1814) was one of the two most prominent
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
ian master ''menuisiers''. He produced carved, painted and gilded beds and seat furniture and upholstery work for the French royal châteaux, in the
Neoclassical style that is associated with
Louis XVI furniture
Louis XVI furniture is characterized by elegance and neoclassicism, a return to ancient Greek and Roman models. Much of it was designed and made for Queen Marie Antoinette for the new apartments she created in the Palace of Versailles, Palace ...
.
Life and career
Jacob was born in
Cheny, Burgundy. He arrived in Paris in 1754 and was apprenticed to the chairmaker Jean-Baptiste Lerouge where he met
Louis Delanois
Louis Delanois (1731–1792) was a Parisian ''menuisier'' who specialized in seat furniture in the late Rococo taste and an advanced neoclassicism, neoclassical taste. Among his notable patrons were mme du Barry, the comte d'Artois, brother of th ...
, whose advanced
neoclassical taste was to have a great influence on Jacob. He was received master 4 September 1765, presenting for his masterpiece a small chair of gilded wood, which survives.
Without marrying either the daughter or the widow of an established ''menuisier'',
[Jacob married in 1767 Jeanne-Germaine Loyer with whom he had five children.] Jacob set up his own premises. He employed in his workshop numerous specialist carvers and
gilders. In 1785, Jacob produced the first
mahogany
Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...
chairs ''à l'anglaise'', for the
comte de Provence
The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...
. After Delanois' early death in 1792, Jacob's only serious rival in his field was
Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené.
He retired in 1796, leaving his workshop in the hands of his sons, one of whom was
François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter
François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter (1770–1841) oversaw one of the most successful and influential furniture workshops in Paris, from 1796 to 1825. The son of Georges Jacob, an outstanding chairmaker who worked in the Louis XVI style and ...
. When his other son died, Jacob returned from retirement to oversee the constant supply of furnishings for
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's residences.
His descendant Hector Lefuel, son of the architect
Hector Lefuel
Hector-Martin Lefuel (14 November 1810 – 31 December 1880) was a French architect, best known for his work on the Palais du Louvre, including Napoleon III's Louvre expansion and the reconstruction of the Pavillon de Flore.
Biography
He was ...
, wrote the monograph, ''Georges Jacob'' (Paris, 1923). Two models in beeswax attributed to Jacob, one for a
fauteuil
A ''fauteuil'' () is a style of open-armchair with a primarily exposed wooden frame originating in France during the early 17th century. A ''fauteuil'' is made of wood and frequently with carved relief ornament. It is typically upholstered on ...
and one for a
bed 'à la turque', have remained in the family's possession.
Gallery
File:ChairPhoto1369.JPG, A giltwood neoclassical chair, made circa 1775 and signed by Jacob
File:Fauteuil Jacob cabinet méridienne Versailles.jpg, Armchair by Jacob in the Château de Versailles (1781)
File:Boudoir.jpg, Boudoir
See also
*
Louis XVI furniture
Louis XVI furniture is characterized by elegance and neoclassicism, a return to ancient Greek and Roman models. Much of it was designed and made for Queen Marie Antoinette for the new apartments she created in the Palace of Versailles, Palace ...
*
Louis XVI style
Louis XVI style, also called ''Louis Seize'', is a style of architecture, furniture, decoration and art which developed in France during the 19-year reign of Louis XVI (1774–1793), just before the French Revolution. It saw the final phase of t ...
*
Neoclassicism in France
Notes
References
Getty Museum – Georges Jacob* ''Le siège français'' by Madeleine Jarry & Pierre Devinoy (excellent source material on Georges Jacob, his descendants and his business)
Further reading
* (see index: p. 127-128; illustration: p. 50)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Georges
1739 births
1814 deaths
French furniture designers
French furniture makers