Antoine Gaudreau
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Antoine-Robert Gaudreau (c. 1680 – 1751) was a Parisian ébéniste who was appointed Ébéniste du Roi. He is largely known through the copious documentation of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, but since his career was spent before the practice of stamping Paris-made furniture began (1751), no stamped piece by Gaudreau exists and few identifications have been made, with the exception of royal pieces that were so ambitious and distinctive that they can be recognized from their meticulous inventory descriptions.
Gaudreau entered the service of the Garde-Meuble in 1726. His premises were in rue Princesse, apart from the cabinet-making neighborhoods of Paris. He was elected syndic of the cabinet-makers' guild, the Corporation des Menuisiers-Ébénistes in 1744.
He was succeeded in his workshop, for a brief time, by his son François-Antoine Gaudreau, also Ébéniste du Roi.
His most famous pieces are:
- The commode he delivered for the King's Bedchamber at Versailles in 1739. It is now in the Wallace Collection, London (Cat.no. F6).
- The commode-médaillier, a medal cabinet in the form of a commode, delivered in 1739 for the king's use in Louis XV Cabinet à Pans at Versailles. It is in the Cabinet des Médailles at the Bibliothèque Nationale.
- The low cupboard-bookcase delivered in 1744 for the king's Cabinet d'Angle at Versailles.
- The commode à la Régence delivered for the Dauphine's apartment at the Château de Fontainebleau in 1745. It is now at Versailles.
- A bureau plat now in the Archives Nationales. (Verlet 1945).
References
- Francis J. B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection vol. II (Metropolitan Museum of Art), 1966, p 547.
- F.J.B. Watson, The Wallace Collection: Furniture
- Pierre Verlet, 1945. Le Mobilier royal français I: Meubles conservés en France (Paris)
