Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

BURLINGTON HOUSE COMMODES RETURN HOME AFTER 150 YEARS

The Burlington House Commodes are the only known surviving pieces of furniture from the early history of Burlington House in Piccadilly, once one of the grandest private houses in London and home to the Royal Academy of Arts since 1866.

commodesTheir provenance, lost for fifty years, has recently been pieced together by Joseph Friedman, an independent fine art agent and consultant. As a result, their present owner is generously allowing them to return to their former home, a building from which all such contents were long ago removed and presumed lost. The elegant demi-lune commodes, veneered with glowing West Indian satinwood, will be on public view in the splendid Saloon, one of the Royal Academy’s John Madejski Fine Rooms, from 27 July 2009.

Securely recorded in the collection of the Hon. Charles Compton Cavendish (1793-1863), later 1st Lord Chesham, who inherited Burlington House in 1834, the commodes were almost certainly made for his father, Lord George Cavendish (1754-1834), later 1st Earl of Burlington, who moved to Burlington House following his marriage in 1782 and who is known to have commissioned a quantity of related satinwood and marquetry furniture at this period. There is also evidence that the commodes were specifically altered as part of the remodelling of the state apartments at Burlington House for Lord George Cavendish in the early 19th century, having added side panels of that date which are shaped to match the re-configured profile of the walls and skirting in these interiors.

Removed from Burlington House when it was sold in 1854, the commodes remained in the Cavendish family at Latimer, the family seat in Buckinghamshire, until they were sold by John Compton Cavendish (1894-1952), 4th Baron Chesham, at Sotheby’s in 1945 when it was clearly stated in the catalogue that they came from Burlington House. The commodes then entered the collection of the 2nd Lord Glenconner who sold them at Christie’s in 1957 (£5,040) when the Burlington House provenance was overlooked and the connection was lost and not recovered when they were sold again at Christie’s in 1984 (£59,400). It is only thanks to Joseph Friedman who spotted a label on the reverse of one of the commodes that their history has again come to light.

The label indicates that in 1854 they belonged to Lord Burlington’s younger son, the Hon. Charles Compton Cavendish (1793-1863), later 1st Baron Chesham, who had inherited Burlington House following his father’s death twenty years earlier. The date of the label coincides with the sale of Burlington House by Lord Chesham to the Government as the eventual home for the Royal Academy and other cultural institutions. Friedman concluded that the label must have referred to a lost inventory compiled when the house was sold and further research led him first to the 1945 Sotheby’s catalogue and then to the 1957 and 1984 Christie’s catalogues.

The commodes represent the highest standards of Neo-classical design and craftsmanship, having almost certainly been produced by the leading London cabinet-makers John Mayhew and William Ince (fl. 1758-1804) who also worked extensively for Lord George Cavendish’s elder brother, the 5th Duke of Devonshire, from whom Lord George originally leased Burlington House before acquiring the property outright.

These important commodes are constructed of deal, mahogany and oak, veneered with figured West Indian satinwood and holly with rosewood bandings, hare-wood and burr-yew marquetry and ormolu mounts. Their presence in Burlington House will significantly enhance both the recent restoration of the state apartments and the public’s understanding of these interiors as well as being the first time in over 150 years that any of the historic furnishings from the house can be seen in their original context.

Location: John Madejski Fine Rooms at the Royal Academy of Arts,
Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD

Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 1.00 pm to 4.30 pm
Saturday and Sunday 10.00 am to 6.00 pm, closed Monday

Joseph Friedman is an independent fine art agent and consultant, and was previously a Senior Director of Sotheby’s, Curator of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s house in Paris, adviser to the Foreign Office on the restoration of the British Embassy in Paris, and consultant on the restoration of Spencer House for Lord Rothschild and Castle Coole for the National Trust.

His company, Joseph Friedman Ltd, advises on all aspects of the sale and acquisition of works of art, fine furniture, and other cultural assets, and acts for buyers and sellers, both at auction and by private treaty. Joseph Friedman Ltd operates across all major collecting areas and in all key areas of the market, and has handled a wide range of projects on behalf of private, corporate, and institutional clients both in the UK and abroad, including private treaty sales to the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery of Ireland, the British Library, and Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. Joseph Friedman is a founding partner of Historic Buildings Consultants, and has lectured and published widely. His books include Spencer House. Chronicle of a Great London Mansion (Zwemmer, 1993); Inside London: Discovering London’s Period Interiors (Phaidon, 1988), and its sequels Inside Paris (1989), Inside New York (1992), and Inside Rome (1993); The Private World of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor [with Hugo Vickers] (1995); and the forthcoming Treasure Houses of London. Five Hundred Years of Private Artistic Patronage and Collecting (Yale University Press).

For further information and images, please contact:

Sue Bond Public Relations
Hollow Lane Farmhouse, Thurston, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP31 3RQ, UK
Tel. +44 (0)1359 271085, Fax. +44 (0)1359 271934
E-mail. [email protected] , www.suebond.co.uk