A Fine George III Giltwood Pier Mirror Attributed to John Linnell Circa 1760

The design for this pier mirror is derived from a manuscript drawing by John Linnell circa 1755-60, now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Conceived in the rococo taste and derived from French sources, it is shown with a pagoda canopy hung with bells above a frame carved with C-scrolls, acanthus leaves and ruffled borders; see H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, Rizzoli & Christie’s, 1980, vol. II, p. 95, fig. 183.  It shares affinities with other designs for pier mirrors from the 1750s, op. cit., pp. 98-99, figs. 187, 189-190. The auricular clasps surrounding the palm fronds at the lower corners are also found on a mirror made for Sir Richard Hoare, Barn Elms, 1753, op. cit., p. 100, fig. 191.

John Linnell (1729-d. 1796) was the son of the furniture maker William Linnell, presumably being trained in his workshop. He became free of the Joiner’s Company by patrimony in 1758, entering the Livery in 1781, the records describing him as a ‘carver’. He was initially a student at St. Martin’s Lane Academy, a school founded by William Hogarth in 1735, where ‘he found himself among an international group of students and teachers and in studying Rococo design, particularly by French exponents of the style, he was able to equip himself to become the firm’s designer both of interiors and furniture’ (Beard & Gilbert, op. cit., p. 543). A large body of his designs is preserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which illustrates both his mastery of the rococo with reference to contemporary French work and which also introduces elements of both gothic and Chinese taste. Many of these are annotated with the names of clients such as Robert Child, of Osterley Park, the Duke of Northumberland of Syon and Alnwick, and the Duke of Argyll, Inverary Castle. Fortunately much of this work actually survives, allowing his house style and methods of carving to be more fully understood.