Percy Thomas MacQuoid (January 1852 – 20 March 1925) was a British theatrical designer and a collector and connoisseur of
English furniture
English furniture has developed largely in line with styles in the rest of northern Europe, but has been interpreted in a distinctive fashion. There were significant regional differences in style, for example between the Northern England, North Cou ...
, and the author of articles, largely for ''
Country Life'', and of four books on the history of English furniture, the first major survey of the subject, which have been reprinted and are still of use today: ''The Age of Oak'', ''The Age of Walnut'', ''The Age of Mahogany'' and ''The Age of Satinwood'', ending his surveys about the year 1800.
These terms, particularly the first three, have become the standard terms for referring to these different periods and styles. Despite this respect for his observations and commentary, his historical research has often been queried.
He collaborated with Ralph Edwards on ''The Dictionary of English Furniture'' (three volumes, 1924–1927). Macquoid's books were published by ''
Country Life''.
Biography
MacQuoid was born in
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
, London, the son of writer
Katharine Sarah Macquoid and book illustrator/watercolourist Thomas Robert Macquoid (1820–1912). He was baptised 10 January 1852. He was sent to
Marlborough College
Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...
, where the schoolmaster told him, "You are a hopeless duffer at Latin and Greek, but you certainly can draw. I want you to make me a drawing." He was also educated at
Heatherley School of Fine Art
The Heatherley School of Fine Art is an independent art school in London.
The school was named after Thomas Heatherley who took over as the school's principal from James Mathews Leigh (when it was named "Leigh's"). Founded in 1845, the school ...
. the
Royal Academy of Arts
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...
and in France.
His early career was as an illustrator and theatrical designer, whose illustrations in ''The Graphic''
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
praised to Anthon van Rappard in 1883 as "the ''non plus ultra'' of elegance and mild refined feeling".
![Percy Thomas Macquoid - Macquoid-38549 - A Spanish Market - 1905](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Percy_Thomas_Macquoid_-_Macquoid-38549_-_A_Spanish_Market_-_1905.jpg)
Macquoid was a favoured designer of the theatrical producer
Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager.
Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progra ...
, notably for Tree's 1906 productions of Shakespeare's ''Anthony and Cleopatra'' and ''Nero''.
In 1899, Macquoid produced decorations for the renovated
St James's Theatre
The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succ ...
(demolished 1957-58) which were carried out by the leading London decorators Messrs. Morant and Co.
For the great collector
Lord Leverhulme
William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme , (, ; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Having been educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church school ...
, Macquoid designed the 'Adam Room' for the
Lady Lever Art Gallery
The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral ...
,
Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight is a model village and suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in it ...
, Liverpool. The work was carried out by the London decorating firm of
White, Allom and installed the year of Macquoid's death. Macquoid had adapted principal elements from two documented
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
houses: the plasterwork and colour of the walls derived from the Music Room at
Harewood House
Harewood House ( , ) is a country house in Harewood, West Yorkshire, England. Designed by architects John Carr and Robert Adam, it was built, between 1759 and 1771, for Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood, a wealthy West Indian plantation a ...
, West Yorkshire, while the mirror above the fireplace is based on one at 20 St James Square, London.
Following his marriage in 1891 to Theresa I. Dent, the couple built The Yellow House, Bayswater, London, to designs by
Ernest George
Sir Ernest George (13 June 1839 – 8 December 1922) was a British architect, landscape and architectural watercolourist, and etcher.
Life and work
Born in London, Ernest George began his architectural training in 1856, under Samuel Hewitt, ...
and
Harold Peto
Harold Ainsworth Peto FRIBA (11 July 1854 – 16 April 1933) was a British architect, landscape architect and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in Provence, France. Among his best-known gardens are Iford Manor, Wiltshire; Buscot P ...
. The couple spent summers and autumns at Hoove Lea, overlooking the sea at
Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...
. In both houses there was Macquoid's collection of 17th-century and 18th-century English furniture, cared for by "a devoted and efficient staff" (Edwards 1974).
In the May 1974 issue of ''Apollo'', Ralph Edwards recalled his collaboration with Macquoid on ''The Dictionary of English Furniture''.
"From the ''Apollo'' archives"
findarticles.com; accessed 6 December 2017.
Publications
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References
External links
Percy Macquoid costume designs for The Merchant of Venice, 1922
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macquoid, Percy
1852 births
1925 deaths
English furniture
English designers
19th-century English people
English scenic designers
Collectors from London
20th-century English historians
Date of birth missing
People from Kensington