Pierre Roussel

Pierre Roussel (1723 - 7 June 1782) was a successful but somewhat pedestrian[1] cabinetmaker (ébéniste) of Paris. He was joined in his extensive business by his two sons, Pierre-Michel (master in 1766) and Pierre le jeune (master in 1771).[2]

For the French epigrapher and historian, see Pierre Roussel (epigrapher).
For the French Olympic hockey player, see Pierre Roussel (field hockey).

Roussel's stamp, with its fleur-de-lis between the P and ROUSSEL, is often seen,[3] but such quantities of goods made by others, both new and old, passed through the shop, and so much cabinetwork from Roussel's workshop was sold and stamped by other marchands-ébénistes,[4] that it is not easy to recognize any consistent sequence of characteristic styles, characteristic constructions,[5] gilt-bronze mounts unique to his shop or marquetry. Consequently Roussel is often credited with a wide-ranging stylistic approach.[6]

The elder Roussel's father was a simple compagnon, a journeyman cabinetmaker working for a master ébéniste. Four of Roussel's brothers were menuisiers, working on carved seat furniture and room paneling.[7] He married Marie-Antoinette Fontaine in 1743 and was received as a master cabinetmaker in the Paris guild, 21 August 1745.[8] From modest beginnings, by the 1760s Roussel worked himself to the top of his profession: he was appointed a juré in 1762 and by 1780 and had held other offices in the Corporation des Menuisiers-Ébénistes.[9]

Among his grand later patrons was the Prince de Condé, who made considerable purchases for the Palais Bourbon and the Château de Chantilly between 1775 and 1780.[10] At the time of his death, the inventory was compiled by a noted ébéniste, Jean-François Leleu and Jean-Baptiste Cochois. There were at least three workshops, a store-room (magasin) and a retail shop (boutique). A number of pieces were lacquered, and six lacquer panels and marquetry was mentioned, geometric, floral and landscape. There were also marble tops, and a stock of veneers.[11]

Roussel was able to give his four daughters dowries and marry them successfully into the solid bourgeoisie. Roussel's son Pierre-Michel established himself as a furniture dealer in fashionable rue St-Honoré. Pierre II Roussel, "le jeune" inherited the family shop from his mother, who had continued to run it after her husband's death, using the same stamp,[12] but in 1792 he closed it, to deal exclusively in exotic timbers and veneers.[13]

Notes
  1. See André Boutemy's assessment at the article on Adrien Delorme.
  2. Francis J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection: Furniture, Gilt Bronzes and Mounted Porcelain, 1966:557f (brief biographical notice).
  3. Illustrated in James Parker, et al., Decorative Art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1964:86 fig. 69, on a tall rectangular drop-front secretary desk, ca 1775-80, with panels of architectural marquetry derived from engravings and gilt-bronze moldings and mounts of generally current design.
  4. For example, Roussel worked for Pierre II Migeon (Watson 1966:557).
  5. Geoffrey de Bellaigue discusses a fitted drawer that does not function in the piece it has been incorporated into, a mechanical table stamped by Roussel at Waddesdon Manor (Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: II. Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronze, 1974:492-97, cat. no. 101).
  6. E.g. by Watson 1966:557.
  7. Watson 1966:557.
  8. Parker 1964:86.
  9. Listed in Bellaigue 1974:880.
  10. Watson 1966:557.
  11. Bellaigue 1974:880.
  12. Comte François de Salverte, Les ébénistes du xviiie siècle, 1927, s.v. "Roussel, Pierre".
  13. Watson 1966.557.
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