PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 30, SERIAL No. 30
LOUIS XVI CHAIR, WITH BEAUVAIS TAPESTRY
FURNITURE AND ITS MAKERS
Thomas Sheraton
FIVE
At forty years of age Thomas Sheraton was a poverty-pinched journeyman cabinet maker and Baptist preacher in Stockton-on-Tees. Then in 1790 he went to London, where he found even a greater poverty, but where he made for himself as a designer of furniture a name that will last as long as the world loves beautiful things. The fifteen remaining years of his life were tragically sad.
Sheraton’s knowledge was gained through years of hardship and privation. He lived to see his chosen art reach its zenith, and then to see it fall away. He had scarce perfected his creations when they were overwhelmed by a wave of bad taste that swept much beauty from English furniture.
When Sheraton reached London he hadn’t enough money to set up shop, much less to employ skilled workmen. So, instead of making furniture, he wrote about it, varying this occasionally by writing sermons or tracts. He made little money, but many enemies, for he had a bitter tongue.