Thomas Chippendale

Lore & Background

Chippendale was born in Otley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in June 1718, the only child of John Chippendale, joiner, and his first wife Mary. He received an elementary education at Prince Henry's Grammar School, Otley, and probably received his basic training from his father, though it is believed that he was also trained by Richard Wood in York before relocating to London. On 19 May 1748, he married Catherine Redshaw at St George's Chapel, Mayfair, and they had five sons and four daughters. After her death in 1772, he married Elizabeth Davis at Fulham Parish Church on 5 August 1777, fathering three more children. During 1749, Chippendale rented a modest house in Conduit Court, near Covent Garden, relocating to Somerset Court in 1752, and then to 60–62 St Martin's Lane in 1754, where the family business operated for 60 years. In 1754 he began a partnership with James Rannie, a wealthy Scottish merchant, and produced the first edition of the Director. After Rannie's death in 1766, Thomas Haig became Chippendale's partner, and the business became Chippendale, Haig and Co. His son, Thomas Chippendale Junior, assumed management in 1776, allowing his father to retire. Chippendale died of tuberculosis in Hoxton and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 16 November 1779.

Reader's Guide

Thomas Chippendale's significance lies in his role as the first cabinet-maker to publish a comprehensive trade catalogue of furniture designs, The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director (1754). This book allowed customers to browse, select a design, and order furniture, creating a mass market and making his name synonymous with a style. His designs, representing English Rococo, mid-Georgian, and later Neoclassical influences, were so influential in Britain, Europe, and America that 'Chippendale' became shorthand for any similar furniture. The Director was used by many other cabinet makers, leading to recognisably Chippendale furniture being produced in Dublin, Philadelphia, Lisbon, Copenhagen and Hamburg; copies were owned by Catherine the Great and Louis XVI. Chippendale was also an interior designer who advised on soft furnishings and paint colors, and he received large-scale commissions from aristocratic clients for fully furnished rooms or houses. His furniture remains highly valued; a padouk cabinet sold at auction in 2008 for £2,729,250. The designs are still reproduced globally, and a statue and memorial plaque stand in his home town of Otley, with a full-size sculpted figure on the façade of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Did You Know?

• Chippendale was baptised on 5 June 1718 in Otley, West Riding of Yorkshire.
• He was the first cabinet-maker to publish a book of his designs, titled The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, in 1754.
• A padouk cabinet offered for auction in 2008 sold for £2,729,250.
• Chippendale's workshop at 60–62 St Martin's Lane operated for 60 years, until his son was evicted for bankruptcy in 1813.
• Catherine the Great and Louis XVI both possessed copies of the Director in its French edition.