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| Chatsworth: The Attic Sale October 2010, Italian carved giltwood console table, made in Rome, mid 18th century, Sotheby’s Auction |
"Why, you might ask, do I give a damn about a frou-frou gilded, curly-leg, marble-top table, the sole purpose of which, is to be displayed against the walls of grand rooms..." (Fun historical background to a console table sold by Christies's Auction. It had been owned by Stanislaw, King of Poland, father of Queen Marie, who was Louis XV's wife.)
I Love Console Tables, Marie of France, King of Poland, Jayne Wrightsman and Italy
I thank the writer Nancy Mitford for her story about Stanislaw, King of Poland. The old goat called his daughter Marie, wife of Louis XV and Queen of France, one of the dullest Queens in Europe. “When I’m with her I yawn like at Mass.”
Stanislaw Leszczyński, King of Poland, should have been more grateful to Marie for the cushy life he lived in France. Her standing as Queen of France prevented his penniless exile after he got booted off the throne of Poland. Following disastrous political misfortune, Stanislaw resided at the palatial Chateau Chambord from 1725 to 1733, was briefly back in the saddle as Polish King in 1733, to be ousted again in 1736, after which he returned to France to live like a fat cat until his death in 1766.
Hyacinthe Rigaud’s portrait of Stanislaw depicts a dandy wearing wig, rouge and lipstick, posed majestically in ermine cape and red silk sash tied around his suit of armor. The exceedingly monarchical portrayal slams against the fact that Stanislaw ignobly lost the throne of Poland, not once but twice.
In early July, Christie’s Auction House London sold a pair of Louis XV console tables made for Stanislaw. Manufactured in France in 1765 in the late Louis XV neoclassical style, and offered at auction by the Rothschild Collection, the consoles were presumably commissioned by the deposed monarch for Chateau Lunéville where he resided.
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| One of a pair of Louis XV console tables from the Rothschild Collection. Made in France 1765 for Stanislaw Leszczyński, King of Poland. Christie’s Auction House, London. |
I’ve been partial to console tables ever since being dazzled by some in Palazzo Doria Pamphili’s Sala del Pussino many years ago in Rome. Why, you might ask, do I give a damn about a frou-frou gilded, curly-leg, marble-top table, the sole purpose of which, is to be displayed against the walls of grand rooms and reception halls?
Because I enjoy studying European decorative arts, and get excited about categories and stylistic descriptions. It’s neither trivial nor useless in my opinion to know that carved seashells and fruit garlands, and curvy cabriole legs are stylistic features of the rococo phase, not the neoclassical phase, of the Louis XV style. Or that theatrical carved winged putti, demon masks and sculptural caryatids, typify Italian consoles. Surely, console ornamentation tells me a thing or two about the characters who commissioned and lived with it.
Even deeper than my historical interest is my aesthetic interest. I have a hankering to be near exquisitely designed and hand-crafted antique objects.
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| Marble top console table in the Council Cabinet, Palace of Versailles |
If you visit the Cabinet Room at the Palace of Versailles, you can see a dark green marble top console table. When Louis XV’s court painter Charles André van Loo made his portrait of Marie Leszczynska, Queen of France, Stanislaw’s daughter, he posed the queen near a console table.
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| Charles André van Loo's Portrait of Marie Leszczynska, Queen of France |
The console tables flipped by the Rothschilds at Christies carried swanky provenance after they departed the estate of the ungrateful King of Poland. Temporarily they were in the collection of the marquis de Beringhen (1693-1770), whose estate, according to Christies, sold them in Paris when de Beringhen kicked the bucket in 1770.
Prudent to cash in before the Revolution.
There was too much stuff stored in the attic at Chatsworth, what was the Duchess of Devonshire to do? So in October 2010 Sotheby’s Auction put on “Chatsworth: The Attic Sale,” and sold a stunning Italian carved giltwood console table, made in Rome in the middle of the 18th century. Decorating the center of the table's stretcher is a large dragon. A dragon? According to Sotheby’s, the table was probably commissioned by Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese (1730-1800), and acquired by William Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790-1858) before ending up in the attic at Chatsworth.
Louis XIV was a hound dog. He had numerous mistresses, official and unofficial, who bore him many children during the years he ruled France. But the Sun King was a chaste choir boy compared to Louis XV, who ran a virtual brothel, with over 100 mistresses, it is said, the lower tier of which were illiterate and often ignorant of his identity. All the while, Queen Marie, Stanislaw’s daughter, and her kids, Louis’ legitimate offspring, prayed for his soul, while Jesuits hissed from pulpits on the evils of adultery and dissipation. Especially during Easter. I’ll never understand how someone who spent that much time whoring managed to fight the Austrians and the Prussians, and run France. Of Louis XV’s official mistresses, Madame de Pompadour was the most famous.
Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, had a passion for houses. She owned many, most of which she redesigned and decorated, and tacked-on sumptuous gardens. This, at the same time she was gussying-up the King’s houses. I easily visualize Madame de Pompadour designing the grand rooms of her Bellevue Chateau, a house she built, before she bought the Elysée. She inspects drawings of the garlands Verberckt will carve into wall panels, and the paint Boucher and Van Loo will use for decorations. Her unwavering attention to paintings, sculpture, lamps, tapestries, and porcelain provided a staggering amount of business for France’s artists and factories. It’s certain her purchasing agents spent time dickering with console tables. You can see a console that belonged to Madame de Pompadour if you visit her apartment in the palace of Versailles.
Prudent to cash in before the Revolution.
There was too much stuff stored in the attic at Chatsworth, what was the Duchess of Devonshire to do? So in October 2010 Sotheby’s Auction put on “Chatsworth: The Attic Sale,” and sold a stunning Italian carved giltwood console table, made in Rome in the middle of the 18th century. Decorating the center of the table's stretcher is a large dragon. A dragon? According to Sotheby’s, the table was probably commissioned by Prince Marcantonio IV Borghese (1730-1800), and acquired by William Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790-1858) before ending up in the attic at Chatsworth.
Louis XIV was a hound dog. He had numerous mistresses, official and unofficial, who bore him many children during the years he ruled France. But the Sun King was a chaste choir boy compared to Louis XV, who ran a virtual brothel, with over 100 mistresses, it is said, the lower tier of which were illiterate and often ignorant of his identity. All the while, Queen Marie, Stanislaw’s daughter, and her kids, Louis’ legitimate offspring, prayed for his soul, while Jesuits hissed from pulpits on the evils of adultery and dissipation. Especially during Easter. I’ll never understand how someone who spent that much time whoring managed to fight the Austrians and the Prussians, and run France. Of Louis XV’s official mistresses, Madame de Pompadour was the most famous.
Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, had a passion for houses. She owned many, most of which she redesigned and decorated, and tacked-on sumptuous gardens. This, at the same time she was gussying-up the King’s houses. I easily visualize Madame de Pompadour designing the grand rooms of her Bellevue Chateau, a house she built, before she bought the Elysée. She inspects drawings of the garlands Verberckt will carve into wall panels, and the paint Boucher and Van Loo will use for decorations. Her unwavering attention to paintings, sculpture, lamps, tapestries, and porcelain provided a staggering amount of business for France’s artists and factories. It’s certain her purchasing agents spent time dickering with console tables. You can see a console that belonged to Madame de Pompadour if you visit her apartment in the palace of Versailles.
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| Console Table in Madame de Pompadour's apartment at Palace of Versailles |
In April, philanthropist Jayne Wrightsman died at age 99, and you would have to be comatose to miss the tributes and lovely photographs in “Architectural Digest,” “Town and Country,” “Vogue” and other glossy mags. Lucky for us, Jayne and her husband Charles Wrightsman established the Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of the priceless pieces Wrightsman collected and handed over to the Met, along with her Vermeer and Georges de La Tour, is a bed side table used by Madame de Pompadour at Bellevue Chateau.
On Louis XV’ carnality. Among the common and illiterate women who serviced the King in his harem was a beautiful Irish girl named Mademoiselles Louise O’ Murphy. Louise turned out to be Boucher’s favorite model. Boucher painted her face in many of his compositions, as nymph, goddess, and shepherdess. The face is in Queen Marie’s private chapel.
This was the Age of Enlightenment and Madame de Pompadour naturally ran a literary salon. To relieve Voltaire of money worries so he could simply be brilliant, at her salon, de Pompadour moved Voltaire into an apartment in the palace of Versailles. The philosopher however made the dumb mistake of publishing something tacky about the King and his head mistress Madame. King Louis became annoyed, so Voltaire hightailed it out of there. Guess where he went. To Chateau Lunéville to stay with our buddy, Stanislaw.
About console tables. Arguably, French consoles are beautiful, as are the ridiculously rococo German consoles. But give me an Italian console table. Italian consoles are utterly pagan.
Martha Stewart Visits Lucullus Antiques - Patrick Dunne - New Orleans
Jimmy Domengeaux Chats about His Louisiana Wetlands Photography Exhibition – Interview
On Louis XV’ carnality. Among the common and illiterate women who serviced the King in his harem was a beautiful Irish girl named Mademoiselles Louise O’ Murphy. Louise turned out to be Boucher’s favorite model. Boucher painted her face in many of his compositions, as nymph, goddess, and shepherdess. The face is in Queen Marie’s private chapel.
This was the Age of Enlightenment and Madame de Pompadour naturally ran a literary salon. To relieve Voltaire of money worries so he could simply be brilliant, at her salon, de Pompadour moved Voltaire into an apartment in the palace of Versailles. The philosopher however made the dumb mistake of publishing something tacky about the King and his head mistress Madame. King Louis became annoyed, so Voltaire hightailed it out of there. Guess where he went. To Chateau Lunéville to stay with our buddy, Stanislaw.
About console tables. Arguably, French consoles are beautiful, as are the ridiculously rococo German consoles. But give me an Italian console table. Italian consoles are utterly pagan.
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| Metropolitan Museum, Italian console table from Rome, circa 1700-1725 |
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