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English Gesso Work and its Design Influence on Early American Colonial Furniture History of Early American Colonial Furniture

 

(Top) Top of Girandole (illustrated below left) with Arms of George I Worked in Gesso
(Left) Girandole Carved in Wood with Gesso Enrichment
(Right) Mirror, Carved Wood with Gesso Enrichment

(Top) Pediments ofMirros with Gesso Enrichment
(Below) Chair in Carved Wood with Gesso Enrichment

One of the many features of English and early American Colonial furniture decorative art which have been overlooked by the modern collector is furniture ornamented with gesso treatment. Originating in Italy, the method came to us through the Dutch, and numerous examples are to be found which were made in England for the palaces and great mansions during the reign of William and Mary. The process consisted of covering the wood with many successive thin coats of a composition made from whiting, glue, etc., allowing sufficient time for each coat to thoroughly harden, until a covering about one-eighth inch thick was formed, the design being then carved or, rather, scraped away and the surface gilt all over. The raised parts were burnished and the groundwork either " matted " or covered with small punched indentations. In cases where the design was in high relief, the wood was first approximately carved and completed when the composition had been applied. It is this process which has caused the frequent coupling together of the names of the trades of " carver and gilder."

The objects most often met with which are decorated by this treatment are mirrors. During the first quarter of the eighteenth century they were nearly all so ornamented. It was at this date that the value of mirrors as decorative objects was first fully realized. The collection at No 31 Old Burlington Street contains numerous fine examples, of which the one shown on page 163, designed to fit in a long panel, will serve as an instance.

Next to mirrors, tables treated by this process are the articles most fre­quently found. At Kensington Palace can be seen the large side-tables bearing the arms of William and Mary, and on the top of page 165 is illustrated a small table treated by this method. On the same page another type of table is shown, and, although English in construction, the design of the ornament, as is frequently the case, shows the influence of the school of Boule. For some reason, which it is not easy to follow, much of this gesso work, and especially on tables, was at a later period of the eighteenth century painted over in black or brown, but fortunately such painting is often capable of being removed, when underneath is found the original gilding in as good a state of preservation as when first applied.

On page 163 is a reproduction of the celebrated torchere at Hampton Court Palace, the top of which on the same page bears the monogram and crown of George I. Copies of this model are not frequent, but as the old process has not been understood, they are generally carved in wood, and the effect misses the whole character and feeling of the original style. Chairs treated by this process are extremely rare, as it is only the most elaborate models which would have repaid the expense of so decorating. The chair (page 16 4) represents the acme of refinement of this domestic article of furniture. In the splat and front rail panels are inserted, painted with classic subjects. Cabinets in gesso are even more scarce, and the example shown on page 16 6, which is one of a pair, is almost unique; it would be impossible to, imagine a more decorative object for a fine apartment.

Instances occur, notably on table tops, where the centre part is veneered and a border several inches wide is treated in gesso, and sometimes walnut chairs are met with, on the legs or splats of which small panels of gesso work are inserted.

Considering the numerous models which still exist in England early American Colonial furniture ornamented by this process, and considering how extremely decorative are objects so treated, it is difficult to realize why the craft of gesso work has remained so long neglected.

(Top) Table with Gesso Enrichment
(Below) Work Table Ornamented with Gesso