Vintage Victorian Furniture – Who Was Alexander Roux?

Posted by Tatooz on August 13, 2010 under Uncategorized | Comments are off for this article

Alexander Roux (pronounced “Roo”) was one particular from the best cabinetmakers from the Victorian era in America, and these days his name commands great respect inside world of vintage Victorian furniture.

Born in France in 1813, Roux was guild-trained in his native nation inside Rococo Revival design. Inside 1830s he emigrated for the United States. And in 1836 (possibly 1837) he opened a store in Ny City. Simply because French furniture was in vogue in Ny in the time, Roux labeled himself, each in his advertisements and on his furniture, as a “French Cabinet Maker.”

His business enterprise prospered. Through the 1850s he had 120 craftsmen in his employ. Roux applied new technologies, such as steam powered saws and routers, which allowed him to shape his wood swiftly. This gave him much more time to work on his fantastically ornate carvings.

Roux is best acknowledged for his Rococo pieces, but he hardly restricted himself to that design. In reality, he brought his mastery for the changing fashions from the day: Gothic Revival inside 1840s; Elizabethan and Renaissance, additionally to Rococo, inside 1850s; Neo-Grec inside 1860s.

Roux crafted high quality pieces for elite clients like William B. Astor. In 1853 he exhibited his work in the Crystal Palace exhibition in Ny City. Roux’s business enterprise was immensely lucrative. He reportedly earned as much as $500,000 inside 1870s, a enormous sum for your day.

Roux was married 3 times and had six kids. For one particular 12 months, in 1847, his brother Frederick joined the firm. Roux himself ultimately retired in 1881 and turned the business enterprise above to his son Alexander J. Roux, who carried it on right up until 1898.

Roux’s store occupied numerous locations in Ny, including 5 diverse spots on Broadway and one particular on Fifth Avenue. Nineteenth century America, with its new wealth and technologies, proved to become the perfect location for Roux to develop his unique craftsmanship.

His work displays an individuality of believed along with a freedom of form that allow it to be highly desirable these days amongst collectors of vintage Victorian furniture. His Rococo pieces contain an unusual variety of naturalistic carvings such as pomegranates and pineapples, the heads of deer, wolves and dogs, crabs, lobsters and other marine existence. Roux favored fancy woods like walnut, even utilizing the same as secondary interior woods.

Inside 12 months 2000, one particular of Roux’s elaborate sideboards was displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Fine art in Ny City, at an exhibit called Fine art and also the Empire City, 1825-1861.

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