Georges Jacob on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Georges Jacob (6 July 1739 – 5 July 1814) was one of the two most prominent
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
Getty Museum – Georges Jacob
* ''Le siège français'' by Madeleine Jarry & Pierre Devinoy (excellent source material on Georges Jacob, his descendants and his business)
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. Si ...
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.
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, 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 firstmahogany
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: U ...
chairs ''à l'anglaise'', for the comte de Provence. 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 wh ...
's residences.
His descendant Hector Lefuel, son of the architect Hector Lefuel, wrote the monograph, ''Georges Jacob'' (Paris, 1923). Two models in beeswax attributed to Jacob, one for a fauteuil and one for a bed 'à la turque', have remained in the family's possession.
Gallery
See also
* Louis XVI furniture *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
Neoclassicism is a movement in architecture, design and the arts which was dominant in France between about 1760 to 1830. It emerged as a reaction to the frivolity and excessive ornament of the baroque and rococo styles. In architecture it featur ...
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