The Burlington House commodes are the only known surviving pieces of furniture from the early history of Burlington House in Piccadilly, once one of the grandest private houses in London and home to the Royal Academy of Arts since 1866.
Their provenance, lost for 50 years, has recently been pieced together by Joseph Friedman, an independent fine art agent and consultant. As a result, their present owner is allowing them to return to their former home, a building from which all such contents were long ago removed and presumed lost. The elegant demilune commodes, veneered with glowing West Indian satinwood, will be on public view in the Saloon, one of the Royal Academy’s John Madejski Fine Rooms, from July 27 to December 31.
Securely recorded in the collection of the Honorable Charles Compton Cavendish (1793‱863), later first Lord Chesham, who inherited Burlington House in 1834, the commodes were almost certainly made for his father, Lord George Cavendish (1754‱834), later first earl of Burlington, who moved to Burlington House following his marriage in 1782 and who is known to have commissioned a quantity of related satinwood and marquetry furniture at this period.
There is also evidence that the commodes were specifically altered as part of the remodeling of the state apartments at Burlington House for Lord George Cavendish in the early Nineteenth Century, having added side panels of that date that are shaped to match the reconfigured profile of the walls and skirting in these interiors.
Removed from Burlington House when it was sold in 1854, the commodes remained in the Cavendish family at Latimer, the family seat in Buckinghamshire, until they were sold by John Compton Cavendish (1894‱952), fourth Baron Chesham, at Sotheby’s in 1945 when it was clearly stated in the catalog that they came from Burlington House. The commodes then entered the collection of the second Lord Glenconner, who sold them at Christie’s in 1957 when the Burlington House provenance was overlooked and the connection was lost and not recovered when they were sold again at Christie’s in 1984.
It is only thanks to Friedman, who spotted a label on the reverse of one of the commodes, that their history has again come to light.
The commodes represent the highest standards of neoclassical design and craftsmanship, having almost certainly been produced by the leading London cabinetmakers John Mayhew and William Ince (active 1758‱804), who also worked extensively for Lord George Cavendish’s elder brother, the fifth duke of Devonshire, from whom Lord George originally leased Burlington House before acquiring the property outright.
The John Madejski Fine Rooms at the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House is in Piccadilly, London. For information, +44 20 7300 8000 or www.royalacademy.org.uk .
