Carved, incised and painted oak, beech and pine chair with caned seat; German, 1810-1820

Given by Laurence Alma-Tadema

This chair, and two others, W. 54-1924 and W. 55-1924, were given to the Museum by Laurence Alma Tadema, daughter of the artist, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912). According to his daughter, Sir Lawrence bought all three chairs in Kassel (spelled Cassel until 1928), a city in central Germany, and used them in his studio. It is possible that he bought the chairs in 1872 on a Continental tour through Brussels, Germany and Italy lasting five and half months. Following his death in 1912, his daughters bought them at the sale of his collection at his house, 34 Grove End Road, St. John's Wood, in 1913. A copy of the sale catalogue is in the National Art Library.

'He owned two remarkable houses, among the most publicized and illustrated of Victorian artist's homes....His studios were celebrated showpieces.' (Charlotte Gere, 'Artistic Circles' Design and Decoration in the Aesthetic Movement', 2010, pp.195-196). This chair can be picked out in a photograph of the studio at Grove End Road, but was probably also used at his previous home, Townshend House, Regent's Park, where he and his family lived from 1871 to 1885. His daughter Anna painted several of the interiors of Townshend House before they moved. (Gere, figs 190, 191, 192).

The chairs appear to have been used by visitors to the studio and for decoration rather than as studio props, since Alma Tadema's paintings were principally scenes from an imagined Roman Empire. Many artists and designers regarded peasant art as pure and untouched by the industrialised world. Collections of European and Scandinavian folk crafts were one of the inspirations for the Arts and Crafts movement in the later 19th century.

In 1923 Alma Tadema's daughter Laurence offered the chairs to the V&A, writing to the Director 'I want to propose another gift to the Museum, to the furniture section. I bought at a sale of my father's things two of those carved and painted chairs he had in his studio, wooden peasant-made wedding chairs - you may remember them. My father bought them in Cassell [sic], & found in them direct evidence of Byzantine tradition. My sister gave me a third, and these three very interesting uncommon & beautiful specimens would be better off in the museum, I think, than in a private house at the mercy of duster & wear & tear. Should you consent to have them I should part with them gladly though sadly.' RP. 1923/7246

Harold Clifford Smith, a furniture curator, commented that 'These three German peasants' chairs are good examples of a type which is at present unrepresented in the Museum. They will be very acceptable as gifts, without conditions'. RP 1924/1824.

Several other pieces of furniture from Alma Tadema's houses have entered the V&A collections: a leather panel, W.42-1913, a 17th century Dutch painted wall-cupboard, W.7-1914, a birdcage W.47-1936 (illustrated in Gere, fig. 190), a couch used as a prop in his studio, W.3-1971, and a screen Alma Tadema painted of the Epps family, W.20-1981. A chair he designed is also in the collection, W.25-1980.

W.56-1924