Sunday, 19 July 2009

Update on Lucien Bonaparte Chairs

Hakan Groth; antique dealer, eminent furniture scholar and author of Neoclassicism in the North has emailed me with some extremely interesting information about the provenance of the "Lucien Bonaparte" suite. Apparently the suite was created for Louis, duc de Bourbon the last dauphin of France. It couldn't have been made for Napoleon's brother as Lucien had left France for Italy in 1804 (he had married a commoner and infuriated Napoleon). Thank you Hakan for letting me know! I'd also like to take this opportunity to say how much I appreciate Hakan's incredible knowledge of history and furniture. To carry around an encyclopedia wouldn't be much fun, but spending time with Hakan means you have the pleasure of learning vast amounts of information whilst being charmed, as he's a very engaging academic. I'd say he's the 19th century's answer to "Hello" He knows every great story and every wicked anecdote. He makes history amusing, and I find it much easier to remember all the details that way!