Abraham Roentgen (30 January 1711 – 1 March 1793) was a German

Ébéniste An ''ébéniste'' () is a Cabinetry, cabinet-maker, particularly one who works in ebony. The term is a loanword from French and translates to "ebonist". Etymology and ambiguities As opposed to ''ébéniste'', the term ''menuisier'' denotes a wood ...

(

cabinetmaker A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (solid ...

). Roentgen was born in Mülheim am Rhein, Germany. He learned

cabinet making A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (solid ...

from his father. At age 20, he traveled to

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, learning from established cabinet makers. He became known for his

marquetry Marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie; from the French ''marqueter'', to variegate) is the art and craft of applying pieces of wood veneer, veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns or designs. The technique may be applied to case furn ...

work, and worked in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(in the workshop of William Gomm) until 1738. On 18 April 1739, he married Susanne Marie Bausch from

Herrnhut Herrnhut (; ; ; Upper Lusatian: ''Harrnhutt'', ''Harrnutt'') is a town of around 6,000 inhabitants in Upper Lusatia, in the district of Görlitz, in eastern Saxony, Germany. The town is mainly known as the place of origin of the community of t ...

. His son, David Roentgen, was born on 11 August 1743. In 1753 they migrated to the Moravian settlement at

Neuwied Neuwied (, ) is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the Neuwied (district), District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt ...

, near

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

, where he established a furniture manufactory. Upon his retirement in 1772 his son David took over the business and established his own reputation. Abraham Roentgen died in Herrnhut in Saxony Germany in 1793.

Literature

** Manuel Mayer: ''Die Verwirklichung eines Möbels. Der Schreibsekretär von Abraham Roentgen in der Residenz zu Würzburg'', in: ''Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch für Kunst und Geschichte'', Bd. 70, Archiv des Historischen Vereins für Unterfranken und Aschaffenburg, Bd. 141, Würzburg 2018, , S. 239-259. ** Wolfram Koeppe (Hg.): Extravagant Inventions. The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens, Exhibition catalogue, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2012. ** Heinrich Kreisel: ''Möbel von Abraham Roentgen'', in: ''Wohnkunst und Hausrat, einst und jetzt'', Bd. 5, Darmstadt, o. J. ** Claus Bernet: ''Abraham Roentgen.'' In: ''Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon'' (BBKL). Band 29, Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, , Sp. 1177–1181. ** Andreas Büttner, Ursula Weber-Woelk, Bernd Willscheid (Hg.): ''Edle Möbel für höchste Kreise - Roentgens Meisterwerke für Europas Höfe''. Katalog des Roentgen-Museums Neuwied, Neuwied 2007, . ** Andreas Büttner: ''Roentgen. Möbelkunst der Extraklasse,'' hrsg. von der Stadt Neuwied. Kehrein, Neuwied 2007, . ** Melanie Doderer-Winkler: ''Abraham und David Roentgen (1711–1793; 1743–1807),'' in: ''Rheinische Lebensbilder,'' Bd. 17, hrsg. von Franz-Josef Heyen, Köln 1997, S. 57–78. ** Dietrich Fabian: ''Abraham und David Roentgen. Von der Schreinerwerkstatt zur Kunstmöbel-Manufaktur,'' Pfaehler, Bad Neustadt an der Saale 1992, . ** Detlev Richter, Bernd Willscheid: ''Reinheit, Feuer & Glanz - Stobwasser und Roentgen. Kunsthandwerk von Weltrang,'' Katalog des Roentgen-Museums Neuwied, Neuwied 2013, . ** Peter Prange: ''Roentgen, Abraham.'' In: ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (NDB). Band 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, , S. 730 f. (Digitalisat). ** Wolfgang Thillmann, Bernd Willscheid (Hg.): ''Möbeldesign - Roentgen, Thonet und die Moderne,'' Katalog des Roentgen-Museums Neuwied, Neuwied 2011, .

External links

Koeppe, Wolfram. "Abraham and David Roentgen". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (June 2013)

Biography at the Getty museum
* German furniture makers 1711 births 1793 deaths Businesspeople from Cologne 18th-century German artisans {{Germany-engineer-stub