Grotto Furniture

The design influences on grotto furniture extend back through the aesthetic philosophers of the 18th century to the poets of classical Rome. In the writings of both Horace and Ovid the virtue of grottoes, as mad-made natural wilderness within formal gardens, are frequently extolled. This unnatural or constructed disorder became a major tenet of 18th century landscape theory contrasting the formality of neo-classicism with the natural spectacle of the sublime. Famous grotto furniture pieces were lavishly designed using natural elements, often grotto furniture with housing fountains with classical sculpture, throughout Europe.

Architects, such as Claude Ledoux (1736-1806), introduced theories on the origins of grotto furniture architectural elements deriving from natural forms. The arch was often drawn as a tree with multiple bent boughs. Such theories were reproduced in the decorative arts and even engraved and enamelled on glass, for instance by the Beilby family in Newcastle. Throughout the Rococc period in Europe, during the middle years of the 18th century, this inspiration from natural elements was continuously redefined. Furniture designs from this period by Chippendale as well as by Darly and Manwaring, often suggest the natural shape and form of the original timber, sprouting as twigs and boughs interlaced to become chair backs and legs.

Grotto furniture is an exceptional example of the revival of this rococo aesthetic, extending the tradition of naturalised grotto furniture and man controlling nature, by reconstructing a natural twig and branch rustic look from skilfully carved solid timber. This paradox, as with the grottoes of classical Rome, was intended both to stimulate and amuse the enquiring minds of leisured and wealthy Italian patrons.

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