Lean-to Writing Desk (secrétaire en pente), c. 1750

Not on View

Medium

veneered on oak (stained purple on the underside of the top) with tulipwood cut on the quarter, root-cut kingwood, and other end-cut woods; gilded bronze mounts

Dimensions

overall: 80 x 53.3 x 35.8 cm (31 1/2 x 21 x 14 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.419

Artists / Makers

Bernard Vanrisamburgh II (cabinetmaker) French, active c. 1730 - 1765/1766

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

beneath the front rail, stenciled in black: B.V.R.B.; beneath the front rail, stamped with the monogram of the _jurés_, and blackened with ink

Provenance

Sir Edward Page Turner [d. 1874]; by inheritance to his wife, Lady Page Turner, Battlesden House, Preston Park, Brighton; (her estate sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 20 February 1903, no. 91A); (Frank Partridge, London).[1] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold 24 February 1910 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; gift 1942 to NGA.

[1] Sir Edward Page Turner was a well-known British collector. According to a Christie's marked catalogue, the writing desk sold for 1680 Pounds to "Partridge," presumably the dealer Frank Partridge. A note on this sale (in Connoisseur 5 (January-April 1903): 48) asserts that Sir Edward originally paid 21 Pounds for the writing desk.

Associated Names

Widener, Joseph E.

Exhibition History

1973: François Boucher in North American Collections: One Hundred Drawings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago, 1973-1974, not in catalogue or brochure (shown only in Washington).

Bibliography

1942: Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 18.

2018: Chuang, Grace. "The Furniture of Bernard Vanrisamburgh II, Master Cabinetmaker in Eighteenth-Century Paris." Center, Record of Activities and Research Reports 38 (2018): repro. 92, 93-95.