Antoine-Robert Gaudreau ( – 6 May 1746) was a

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

ian ''

ébéniste An ''ébéniste'' () is a 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 woodcarver or ...

'' who was appointed ''Ébéniste du Roi'' and was the principal supplier of furniture for the royal châteaux during the early years of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

's reign. He is largely known through the copious documentation of the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne; he entered the service of the Garde-Meuble in 1726. However, since his career was spent before the practice of stamping Paris-made furniture began (1751), no stamped piece by Gaudreau exists and few identifications have been made, with the exception of royal pieces that were so ambitious and distinctive that they can be recognized from their meticulous inventory descriptions. In one case, the identification of a royal commode permits the attribution to Gaudreau of several similar ones. The commode in question, formerly in the collection of

Alphonse de Rothschild Mayer Alphonse James Rothschild (1 February 1827 – 26 May 1905), was a French financier, vineyard owner, art collector, philanthropist, racehorse owner/breeder and a member of the Rothschild banking family of France. Biography Known as Al ...

, was delivered by Gaudreau on 4 August 1738 intended for the King's bedroom at Château La Muette. The gilt-bronze mounts, by which André Bouthemy attributed the commode to

Charles Cressent Charles Cressent (1685–1768) was a French furniture-maker, sculptor and fondeur-ciseleur of the régence style. As the second son of François Cressent, sculpteur du roi, and grandson of Charles Cressent, a furniture-maker of Amiens, who also ...

, who may have been responsible for modelling them. Several commodes following this model exist, including one in the Jones Collection at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London. One of the group bears on its gilt-bronze mounts the crowned C tax stamp that was used in 1745-49, suggesting that the model remained current for several years. The first French reference to a ''table servante'', a dumb waiter or tiered serving table with recesses for cooling wine for suppers free of protocol and servants, occurs in a bill of Gaudreau in 1735, of furniture delivered to

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

. His premises were in rue Princesse, apart from the cabinet-making neighborhoods of Paris. He was elected ''

syndic ''Syndic'' (; Greek: ) is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or p ...

'' of the cabinet-makers' guild, the ''

Corporation des Menuisiers-Ébénistes The Corporation des Menuisiers-Ébénistes was a French craft guild which was concerned with the profession of woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinetry, furniture making, wood carving, joinery, c ...

'' in 1744. He was succeeded in his workshop, for a brief time, by his son François-Antoine Gaudreau (died 1751), also ''Ébéniste du Roi''. His most famous pieces are: * The

commode A commode is any of many pieces of furniture. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' has multiple meanings of "commode". The first relevant definition reads: "A piece of furniture with drawers and shelves; in the bedroom, a sort of elaborate chest ...

veneered with kingwood and satiné that he delivered for the King's Bedchamber at

in 1739. It has gilt-bronze mounts by

Jacques Caffieri Jacques Caffieri (25 August 1678, Paris – 25 November 1755, Paris) was a French sculptor, working for the most part in bronze. Life Jacques Caffiéri was the fifth son of Philippe Caffieri (1634-1716), the founder of this family of artists. ...

, stamped FAIT PAR CAFFIERI. The commode is now in the

Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse (Great Britain), townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquess of Hertford, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wall ...

, London (Cat.no. F86).Wallace Collection Online: Louis XV's commode
Gaudreau is spelled Gaudreaus. * The ''commode-médaillier'', a medal cabinet in the form of a commode, delivered in 1739 for the king's use in Louis XV's Cabinet à Pans at Versailles. In this commission Gaudreau followed a design provided by the Slodtz brothers. It is in the

Cabinet des Médailles The BnF Museum or Museum of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, formerly known as the Cabinet des Médailles (), is a significant art and history museum in Paris. It displays collections of the ''Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiq ...

at the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

. * The low cupboard-bookcase delivered in 1744 for the king's ''Cabinet d'Angle'' at Versailles. * The ''commode à la Régence'' (illustrated above), delivered for the Dauphine's apartment at the

Château de Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs, includ ...

in 1745. It is now at Versailles. * A ''bureau plat'' now in the Archives Nationales. (Verlet 1945).

Notes

References

* Francis J. B. Watson, ''The Wrightsman Collection'' vol. II (Metropolitan Museum of Art), 1966, p 547. * F.J.B. Watson, ''The Wallace Collection: Furniture'' * Pierre Verlet, 1945. ''Le Mobilier royal français I: Meubles conservés en France'' (Paris) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaudreau, Antoine 1751 deaths Furniture designers from Paris Year of birth uncertain French cabinetmakers