History and Antique Furniture
History may not be exciting to many people but if you have an interest in antiques then history can come alive and you can learn many facts just by delving into the past lives of many of the great furniture cabinet makers.
Thomas Chippendale a master cabinet maker was reputed to be born in Otley, Yorkshire. Details of his life can be found in the Otley museum. The town dates from before the Roman times and belonged to the Archbishop of York.
The first church to be built in Otley was in the early 7th century and buried in the All Saints Parish Church lies the remains of Thomas Fairfax who commanded Parliaments forces at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644.
Otley might be better known by the fact that it plays the town of Hotten in the television soap opera Emmerdale, and the old police station in Heartbeat is actually the Otley courthouse.
Many of the great antique furniture makers were more designers than furniture builders although their earlier years were probably spent learning their trade.
Thomas Sheraton learned the trade and became a journeying cabinet maker but changed course and became a church minister. His fame in antique furniture came from his drawings and four volumes of “The Cabinet Maker’s and Upholsterer’s book.
It is believed that Sheraton himself never made any of the pieces shown in his books. No pieces of furniture have ever been traced to him. It is said he died in abject poverty.
Antiques and history are part of a whole as each era brings to life the reign of a King or Queen of that period. Victorian furniture is more plentiful due to long reign of Queen Victoria; Many pieces of Victorian antique furniture can be bought quite cheaply especially from the later years of her reign.
Late Victorian furniture was more solidly built than in the early years, dark browns and green being the more predominant colours, and much of it could be considered large and heavy, but as Victorian houses have large rooms with high ceilings this type of furniture fitted its abode.
In 1888 the Arts and Crafts Movement came into being. This movement being against the use of machinery and the loss of work it caused for the ordinary working people. Victorian Arts and Crafts style furniture made in England was handmade in a country or farmhouse style and although it looked nice comfort was not always first and foremost.
Queen Elizabeth 1 was the daughter of King Henry v111. During the Elizabethan age house designs changed which brought about the change in furniture designs.
Furniture became lighter and more decorative much of it being made with walnut, a a lighter and less sturdy wood, although chairs were still made with oak. Due to the weakness of walnut this furniture has not survived through the years whereas the sturdier Elizabethan oak antique tables and chairs are still around.