The last of the three great cabinetmakers represents the culmination
of the classic spirit derived both from the brothers Adam and the
French Louis XVI style. Sheraton’s productions, or rather his designs,
depicted in the “Cabinet-maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing-Book,” have
little of the vigor and strength of Chippendale’s work; but they are
always characterized by delicacy and refinement.
[Illustration: EXAMPLES OF SHERATON CHAIRS]
Sheraton designed furniture both in mahogany and in satinwood,
decorated by inlay and by painting, and it is with this last style, the
introduction of which was largely due to the popularity of the gifted
young artist Angélique Kauffmann, that he is particularly identified.
His work in mahogany is characterized by simplicity of form and by the
tasteful use of inlay, in which respect he was perhaps the equal of
Heppelwhite.
His chair backs are almost always based upon the straight line, and,
although sometimes made petty by the introduction of inappropriate
classic ornament, they exhibit on the whole much skill and refinement
in composition. In the legs of chairs and tables he almost invariably
used turned and tapering supports, which were frequently decorated by
reeding. In the sides and often the backs of his chairs he reintroduced
the vogue of canework, which had not appeared in fashionable furniture
since the seventeenth century.
Sheraton’s satinwood furniture took the form mainly of commodes or
bureaus, small writing desks, toilet tables, and other lighter articles
for the boudoir. The daintiness and elegance of some of these pieces
decorated by the brush of Angélique Kauffmann or Pergolesi challenge
comparison with some of the exquisite furniture made during the reign
of Louis XVI, and they mark the final culmination of English furniture
before its degeneration into the mediocrity of later times.
[Illustration: SHERATON SIDEBOARD]