Georges Jacob

Georges Jacob (Cheny, Burgundy, 6 July 1739 — 1814, master 1765) was one of the two most prominent Parisian master menuisiers, producing carved, painted and gilded beds and seat furniture and upholstery work for the French royal châteaux, in the early Neoclassical style that is usually associated with Louis XVI.

Jacob arrived in Paris in 1754 and apprenticed with the chairmaker Jean-Baptiste Lerouge where he met Louis Delanois, whose advanced neoclassical taste was to have a great influence on Jacob. He was received master 4 September 1765, presenting for his masterpiece a small chair of gilded wood, which survives. Without marrying either the daughter or the widow of an established menuisier, Jacob set up his own premises. He employed in his workshop numerous specialist carvers and gilders. In 1785 Jacob produced the first mahogany chairs à l'anglaise, for the comte de Provence. He retired in 1796, leaving his workshop in the hands of his sons, one of whom was François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter. When his other son died, Jacob returned from retirement to oversee the constant supply of furnishings for Napoleon's residences.

After Delanois' early death, Jacob's only serious rival in his field was Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené.

His descendent Hector Lefuel, son of the architect Hector Lefuel, wrote the monograph, Georges Jacob (Paris, 1923). Two models in beeswax attributed to Georges Jacob, one for a fauteuil and one for a bed 'à la turque', have remained in the family's possession.

Le Siege Francais by Madeleine Jarry & Pierre Devinoy; excellent source material on George Jacob, his descendants and his business.

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