BVRB
La Famille Van Risen Burgh : trois générations
La Famille Van Risen Burgh : trois générations
Bernard (I) Van Risen Burgh
(Groningue, vers 1660 - Paris, 2 janvier 1738)
(Groningue, vers 1660 - Paris, 2 janvier 1738)
Fils de Gérard, marchand, et de Marguerite Rusyn. Installé à Paris au cours des années 1680, il se maria en février 1696 avec la fille d'un marchand de toiles, Marie-Jeanne Martel. De ce mariage, naquirent cinq enfants parvenus à l'âge adulte : Bernard (II), maître ébéniste, Marie-Anne, épouse de Jean Charbonnier, bourrelier, Pierre-Bernard, religieux pénitent du Tiers-Ordre de Saint-François, Jean-Laurent, marchand à Lisbonne, et Joachim.
Longtemps resté ouvrier libre, il ne se fit recevoir Maître-ébéniste que tardivement. Les actes le montrent utilisant ce titre à partir de 1722. Il fut juré de sa corporation de 1729 à 1731. Il demeura toute sa vie dans la Grande Rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine.
Bernard (I) Van Risen Burgh fut un spécialiste de la marqueterie d'écaille et de métal, produisant quelques chefs-d'œuvre comme les petits bureaux de la Duchesse de Lesdiguières (Collection de la Reine d'Angleterre) et de l'Électeur Max-Emmanuel de Bavière (Malibu, J.Paul Getty Museum), le socle de la statue équestre de ce souverain, exécutée par de Grof (Munich, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum), un grand bureau à gradin, toujours pour le même prince (Paris, Musée du Louvre), et enfin la commode du Président de Machault (ancienne Collection du Comte de La Panouse) et sa contre-partie (Collection du Marquis de Bath à Longleat). A la fin de sa vie, il s'était spécialisé dans la production de pendules, ayant pour principal collaborateur Adrien Dubois, qui, assisté de son frère François, "graveur, découpeur et marqueteur", produisit à son tour de nombreuses pièces en marqueterie d'écaille et de métal. Son établissement était florissant à sa mort, et il détenait la propriété de ses modèles de bronze. Ses ciseleurs étaient à cette époque Louis Blondel et Pierre Regnault. L'intégralité du stock de Van Risen Burgh fut dispersée aux enchères et quelques uns de ses modèles, notamment la pendule aux biches, furent rachetés et exploités par Jean-Pierre Latz.
Il fut en relation d'affaires avec le marchand Edme Galley (1658-1758), prédécesseur de François Darnault à l'enseigne du Roy d'Espagne, rue de la Monnaie, qui livra, avant le 24 février 1715, à Max-Emmanuel de Bavière le monument équestre de Guillaume de Grof et son socle pour la somme considérable de 10.000 livres. L'inventaire après décès de Bernard (I) Van Risen Burgh montre que dès avant 1727, il collaborait avec Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus, lequel perdit un procès contre lui, et qu'il comptait le marchand Thomas-Joachim Hébert parmi ses clients. Les horlogers Jacques (III) Thuret, Louis Foullé, Jacques Gosselin, François Rabby, Louis Mynuel et Jean Prévost utilisèrent ses caisses.
Bernard (II) Van Risen Burgh
(Paris, avant 1705 - Paris, 23 février 1766)
Reçu Maître en 1730
(Paris, avant 1705 - Paris, 23 février 1766)
Reçu Maître en 1730
Aîné des cinq enfants de Bernard (I), il se marie en 1730 et aura lui-même six enfants. L'un de ses fils Bernard (III), poursuivra son œuvre. Il travaille successivement rue de Reuilly, rue Saint-Nicolas puis rue de Charenton. Il est de loin le plus prolifique des trois et le plus justement célèbre pour la qualité hors du commun de l'ensemble de sa production. Il n'est pas exagéré de le considérer comme le plus grand ébéniste parisien du temps de Louis XV
On sait que Bernard (II) Van Risen Burgh a travaillé pour une riche clientèle, y compris la famille royale, la plupart du temps par l'intermédiaire de marchands-merciers renommés, comme Hébert, Lazare Duvaux et Simon Philippe Poirier. Que ce soit à la demande de ces derniers, qui ne souhaitaient pas le faire connaître de leurs clients, ou plus probablement en raison de la longueur et de la consonance étrangère de son nom, il décide de signer ses meubles de ses seules initiales. L'a-t-il fait avant que l'usage de l'estampille soit devenu obligatoire, c'est-à-dire dès sa réception à la maîtrise ? On ne peut l'affirmer. Il est vraisemblable que plusieurs de ses œuvres restent anonymes. A l'époque de ses recherches, en 1957, Jean-Pierre Baroli avait identifié cent meubles estampillés de BVRB et lui en attribuait une cinquantaine d'autres.
Bernard (II) ne semble avoir fabriqué que des meubles de grand luxe dans l'esprit rocaille qui florissait au milieu du règne de Louis XV. Il a suivi le goût de l'époque, plus ou moins dirigé et codifié par les marchands-merciers qui lui passaient des commandes. Son style ne diffère guère de celui de nombre de ses confrères, comme Jacques Dubois et Pierre Roussel, et les meubles qui sortent de son atelier (commodes, encoignures, bureaux plats, bureaux de pente, petites tables) correspondent, par leur nature, à ceux que l'on trouve dans les plus somptueuses demeures et dans les châteaux. Pourtant, des qualités de fabrication exceptionnelles, l'emploi de certaines marqueteries, d'un motif de bronze particulier distinguent entre toutes sa production.
Les bâtis, réalisés en chêne, sont parfaitement assemblés et finis avec un soin particulier. Le fait mérite d'autant plus d'être signalé, qu'il n'est pas courant, surtout sous le règne de Louis XV. Des meubles de luxe révèlent souvent un bâti en sapin fort médiocre. A cet égard, BVRB fait figure d'exception tout comme Riesener durant la période suivante.
Le sens des proportions, l'élégance et la souplesse des galbes, la finesse des attaches, une étonnante homogénéité, une sorte de conjugaison harmonieuse entre les formes, les décors de marqueterie et les bronzes : on n'en finirait pas d'énumérer les mérites des meubles de BVRB. Si quelques-uns conservent des réminiscences du goût à l'honneur sous la Régence, la plupart personnifient le style rocaille dans son expression la plus accomplie mais aussi la plus mesurée.
Bernard (III) Van Risen Burgh
(Paris, juin 1731 - Paris, 16 janvier 1800)
(Paris, juin 1731 - Paris, 16 janvier 1800)
Fils de Bernard (II), il travaille avec son père puis, après la mort de ce dernier, lui succède en compagnie de sa mère, qui continue d'utiliser la même estampille, comme les règles corporatives l'y autorisent. De ce fait, Bernard (III) ne sollicitera jamais la maîtrise et les meubles, qu'il a exécutés ne peuvent être identifiés. On estime toutefois que les quelques pièces Louis XVI estampillées "BVRB" (des commodes, des buffets à hauteur d'appui de formes plutôt massives, un bureau à cylindre) peuvent lui être attribuées. La grande commode à portes, à ressaut bombé, ornée de laque du Japon et de vernis européen, appartenant au Metropolitan Museum de New York (Collection Kress), fait partie de cette catégorie, de même qu'une paire de meubles d'appui, également revêtus de laque du Japon, ornés de trophées et de chutes à volute en bronze, qui se trouvent aussi à New York, mais dans la Frick Collection. Lui est également attribué un meuble d'entre-deux Louis XVI à ressaut orné de cinq panneaux de marqueterie à décor d'urnes et de branchages fleuris, frise de postes et guirlandes de laurier en bronze (Collection Vigier, Paris, 1970).
Dans les années 1780, après la disparition de sa mère, Bernard (III) abandonnera l'ébénisterie pour se consacrer à la sculpture.
Dans les années 1780, après la disparition de sa mère, Bernard (III) abandonnera l'ébénisterie pour se consacrer à la sculpture.
Bibliographie
"Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIème Siècle"
Pierre Kjellberg
Les Editions de l'Amateur - 2002
"Les Ebénistes du XVIIIème siècle"
Comte François de Salverte
F. de Nobele, Paris - 1962
"Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution"
Alexandre Pradère
Société Nouvelle des Editions du Chêne - 1989
"French Furniture Makers"
Alexandre Pradère
Société Nouvelle des Editions du Chêne - 1989
18th Century French Furniture
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
Maria Isabel Pereira Coutinho
Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian
Lisbon - 1999
L'Estampille - L'Objet d'Art
N° 290 - Avril 1995
BVRB
Now regarded as the greatest ébéniste of the reign of Louis XV, BVRB, was identified only in 1957 by J-P. Baroli, who discovered that the four mysterious initials of the stamp concealed a dynasty of ébénistes of Netherlandish origin, all with the same surname and Christian name and all settled in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, the Van Risen Burgh.
Bernard (I) Van Risen Burgh (who does not in fact seem to have used the stamp "B.V.R.B." came from Groene in Holland. He settled in Paris before 1696, the date of his marriage to Marie-Jeanne Martel. The couple had a number of children, among them Bernard (II), Joachim, an engineer who settled in Lyon in 1742, Pierre-Bernard who entered the Convent of religious penitents, and a daughter, Marie-Anne-Marguerite, who married Jean Charbonnier. The large dowry (4.000 livres) which she received on her marriage in 1722 reveals the prosperity of the Van Risen Burgh at that time. The father, Bernard (I), specialized in the production of bracket, mantel and long-case clocks in Boulle marquetry and became a master before 1722. He settled in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in a house with workshop and storage on the ground floor and a furniture store on the first floor. He died in 1738.
The inventory drawn up after his death on 7 January 1738 reveals a relatively prosperous business with 600 livres in ready money and silverware estimated at 1.433 livres. The stock-in-hand was valued by the ébénistes Germain Landrin and François Garnier. It consisted entirely of clocks: more than 80 clock-cases, mostly valued at low prices (between 5 and 34 livres each). The few pieces valued at a higher price were clock-cases with mounts. The only mention made of veneers was of Boulle marquetry ("four clock-cases with tortoiseshell ground..." and "four cases in tortoiseshell alone"). The shapes mentioned include rectangular, with concave cornice, and S-shaped (bracket clock hanging from a hook). There were 49 clock bases, most of them of the type described as "en tombeaux" (sarcophagus-shaped). The store on the first floor behind the workshop contained a large quantity of unfinished clocks : the carcases of 117 clocks are itemized as well as 15 tall pedestals and 60 clock-brackets. Perhaps Van Risen Burgh the Elder sold his clock cases on to his fellow makers, which they in turn finished with either marquetry or lacquer. In any cases, he was in possession of his own bronze models, described as 20 large figurines of putti and others, weighing altogether 64 livres", "eight bronze terms with palm fronds" as well as "35 livres of mounts, unchased". The name of the bronzier who supplied them is mentioned: an amount of 580 livres was owed to Sr Blondel "for merchandise in the form of mounts which he supplied to the deceased, who told him that it was to be sent to his son living in Lisbon". It is also noted that Van Risen Burgh the Elder employed an assistant ébéniste, Adrien Dubois, who lived under his roof and was owed the sum of 400 livres. Adrien Dubois was received master in 1741. The fact that his stamp is found principally on clocks with Boulle marquetry and on a console table in the Jones Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum also in Boulle marquetry confirms the impression that the production of the first Van Risen Burgh must have been principally in this technique, so fashionable until about 1730.
Van Risen Burgh the Elder must have used mother-of-pearl on his Boulle marquetry. One finds "a box full of brugo and other types of mother-of-pearl valued at 30 livres". It is likely that before specializing in the production of clocks, he produced a variety of pieces of furniture with Boulle marquetry. The only piece of furniture described in the 1738 inventory is "an old commode in brass and tortoiseshell marquetry valued at 24 livres". The low estimate and the term "old commode" may well suggest a type of furniture dating to the 1710s and long since out of fashion. Van Risen Burgh the Elder's workshop was definitely independent of that of his son, and his stock was sold off in January 1738, shortly after the inventory had been taken.
Bernard (II) Van Risen Burgh, who used the stamp "B.V.R.B.", was born shortly after his parents' marriage in about 1696. He was apprenticed to his father and was received master before 1730. He had a separate workshop from his father, situated in the rue de Reuilly, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. It seems that he was in Lisbon between 1730 and 1738 and worked for the King of Portugal. A note in the inventory made after his father'death in 1738 mentions "a bundle of 37 sheets which are notes, invoices and receipts for various goods asked for and supplied by the deceased for the Sieur Jean Laurent and Van Risen Burgh his son in Lisbon". All trace of this early work by BVRB in Portugal was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. However, we know that Jao V, King of Portugal (1689-1750) commissioned works from the best Parisian craftsmen, as in 1733 Cressent made a cartel clock for him in the form of "Love conquering Time".
In 1730 BVRB married Geneviève Lavoye, by whom he had six children. He remained all his life in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, moving from the rue de Reuilly to the rue Saint-Nicolas, where he is recorded as living in 1754. In 1755 he was cited as an expert during a legal case against the ébéniste Lardin. Throughout his career he worked for the important marchands-merciers in Paris, such as Hébert in the early years, and then Lazare Duvaux and Poirier, specializing in luxury furniture in marquetry of bois de bout, lacquer or porcelain. As a result he had no direct contact with the elegant clientèle, nor did he acquire the renown enjoyed by Boulle and Cressent who had their workshops in the more central parts of the city. His name is rarely mentioned in eighteenth-century sale catalogues and then only by his Christian name, Bernard. Thus in the Blondel de Gagny sale in 1776, lot 177 is described as "a fine commode in bois satiné and amaranth...by Bernard".
In 1764, BVRB retired, selling the contents of his workshop to his son for 3.000 livres. The inventory taken then shows a small workshop fitted only with three work-benches, with twenty pieces of furniture in stock, almost all incomplete and unveneered. It would seem that furniture remained unveneered and unlacquered pending a specific order from the dealers. BVRB must have died before February 1767, the date of his son's marriage, as his name is not mentioned in the marriage contract.
Bernard (III) Van Risen Burgh, the eldest of Bernard II's six children, seems to have been born around 1731-32. In 1764 his father became ill and he bought his father's workshop with the furniture, finished and unfinished, that was in stock and the bronze models at the same time renting part of the family home in the rue de Charenton. In 1767, Bernard (III) married Françoise Joitant, daugther of a menuisier, from Dourdan, with a dowry of 2.500 livres. At this time he was a journeyman ébéniste living with his mother. He did not receive his mastership, but, thanks to his mother's rights as the widow of a master, he was able to keep the workshop in operation until her death around 1774. He seems above all to have been a sculpteur and the creator of models for gilt-bronze mounts and devoted himself exclusively to this profession after 1775. He is mentioned in the documents of bankruptcy of a bronze-caster in 1786 as a "modeller in plaster" and he was described as "sculpteur" at the time of his death in 1800.
A whole series of Neo-classical furniture, dating from after 1765 and stamped B.V.R.B., must be attributed to Bernard (III), which would seem to indicate that he continued to use his father's stamp. These were also pieces in Japanese lacquer, which shows that he continued to work for the marchands-merciers: a commode à vantaux in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Kress Collection), as well as a pair of small commodes à vantaux in the Frick Collection, a commode à vantaux and a matching pair of encoignures formerly in the Baron Lepic Collection (sale, Paris, 18 June 1887, lots 44-45) and another commode reproduced in Paris Furniture by Charles Packer (Newport, Monmouthshire, 1956, fig. 72). The similarity of these pieces to the commode by Joseph sold in 1766 by Poirier to the Marquis de Marigny leads one to believe that all these pieces were also made for Poirier and can be dated around the years 1766-70.
Bernard (I) Van Risen Burgh (who does not in fact seem to have used the stamp "B.V.R.B." came from Groene in Holland. He settled in Paris before 1696, the date of his marriage to Marie-Jeanne Martel. The couple had a number of children, among them Bernard (II), Joachim, an engineer who settled in Lyon in 1742, Pierre-Bernard who entered the Convent of religious penitents, and a daughter, Marie-Anne-Marguerite, who married Jean Charbonnier. The large dowry (4.000 livres) which she received on her marriage in 1722 reveals the prosperity of the Van Risen Burgh at that time. The father, Bernard (I), specialized in the production of bracket, mantel and long-case clocks in Boulle marquetry and became a master before 1722. He settled in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine in a house with workshop and storage on the ground floor and a furniture store on the first floor. He died in 1738.
The inventory drawn up after his death on 7 January 1738 reveals a relatively prosperous business with 600 livres in ready money and silverware estimated at 1.433 livres. The stock-in-hand was valued by the ébénistes Germain Landrin and François Garnier. It consisted entirely of clocks: more than 80 clock-cases, mostly valued at low prices (between 5 and 34 livres each). The few pieces valued at a higher price were clock-cases with mounts. The only mention made of veneers was of Boulle marquetry ("four clock-cases with tortoiseshell ground..." and "four cases in tortoiseshell alone"). The shapes mentioned include rectangular, with concave cornice, and S-shaped (bracket clock hanging from a hook). There were 49 clock bases, most of them of the type described as "en tombeaux" (sarcophagus-shaped). The store on the first floor behind the workshop contained a large quantity of unfinished clocks : the carcases of 117 clocks are itemized as well as 15 tall pedestals and 60 clock-brackets. Perhaps Van Risen Burgh the Elder sold his clock cases on to his fellow makers, which they in turn finished with either marquetry or lacquer. In any cases, he was in possession of his own bronze models, described as 20 large figurines of putti and others, weighing altogether 64 livres", "eight bronze terms with palm fronds" as well as "35 livres of mounts, unchased". The name of the bronzier who supplied them is mentioned: an amount of 580 livres was owed to Sr Blondel "for merchandise in the form of mounts which he supplied to the deceased, who told him that it was to be sent to his son living in Lisbon". It is also noted that Van Risen Burgh the Elder employed an assistant ébéniste, Adrien Dubois, who lived under his roof and was owed the sum of 400 livres. Adrien Dubois was received master in 1741. The fact that his stamp is found principally on clocks with Boulle marquetry and on a console table in the Jones Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum also in Boulle marquetry confirms the impression that the production of the first Van Risen Burgh must have been principally in this technique, so fashionable until about 1730.
Van Risen Burgh the Elder must have used mother-of-pearl on his Boulle marquetry. One finds "a box full of brugo and other types of mother-of-pearl valued at 30 livres". It is likely that before specializing in the production of clocks, he produced a variety of pieces of furniture with Boulle marquetry. The only piece of furniture described in the 1738 inventory is "an old commode in brass and tortoiseshell marquetry valued at 24 livres". The low estimate and the term "old commode" may well suggest a type of furniture dating to the 1710s and long since out of fashion. Van Risen Burgh the Elder's workshop was definitely independent of that of his son, and his stock was sold off in January 1738, shortly after the inventory had been taken.
Bernard (II) Van Risen Burgh, who used the stamp "B.V.R.B.", was born shortly after his parents' marriage in about 1696. He was apprenticed to his father and was received master before 1730. He had a separate workshop from his father, situated in the rue de Reuilly, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. It seems that he was in Lisbon between 1730 and 1738 and worked for the King of Portugal. A note in the inventory made after his father'death in 1738 mentions "a bundle of 37 sheets which are notes, invoices and receipts for various goods asked for and supplied by the deceased for the Sieur Jean Laurent and Van Risen Burgh his son in Lisbon". All trace of this early work by BVRB in Portugal was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. However, we know that Jao V, King of Portugal (1689-1750) commissioned works from the best Parisian craftsmen, as in 1733 Cressent made a cartel clock for him in the form of "Love conquering Time".
In 1730 BVRB married Geneviève Lavoye, by whom he had six children. He remained all his life in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, moving from the rue de Reuilly to the rue Saint-Nicolas, where he is recorded as living in 1754. In 1755 he was cited as an expert during a legal case against the ébéniste Lardin. Throughout his career he worked for the important marchands-merciers in Paris, such as Hébert in the early years, and then Lazare Duvaux and Poirier, specializing in luxury furniture in marquetry of bois de bout, lacquer or porcelain. As a result he had no direct contact with the elegant clientèle, nor did he acquire the renown enjoyed by Boulle and Cressent who had their workshops in the more central parts of the city. His name is rarely mentioned in eighteenth-century sale catalogues and then only by his Christian name, Bernard. Thus in the Blondel de Gagny sale in 1776, lot 177 is described as "a fine commode in bois satiné and amaranth...by Bernard".
In 1764, BVRB retired, selling the contents of his workshop to his son for 3.000 livres. The inventory taken then shows a small workshop fitted only with three work-benches, with twenty pieces of furniture in stock, almost all incomplete and unveneered. It would seem that furniture remained unveneered and unlacquered pending a specific order from the dealers. BVRB must have died before February 1767, the date of his son's marriage, as his name is not mentioned in the marriage contract.
Bernard (III) Van Risen Burgh, the eldest of Bernard II's six children, seems to have been born around 1731-32. In 1764 his father became ill and he bought his father's workshop with the furniture, finished and unfinished, that was in stock and the bronze models at the same time renting part of the family home in the rue de Charenton. In 1767, Bernard (III) married Françoise Joitant, daugther of a menuisier, from Dourdan, with a dowry of 2.500 livres. At this time he was a journeyman ébéniste living with his mother. He did not receive his mastership, but, thanks to his mother's rights as the widow of a master, he was able to keep the workshop in operation until her death around 1774. He seems above all to have been a sculpteur and the creator of models for gilt-bronze mounts and devoted himself exclusively to this profession after 1775. He is mentioned in the documents of bankruptcy of a bronze-caster in 1786 as a "modeller in plaster" and he was described as "sculpteur" at the time of his death in 1800.
A whole series of Neo-classical furniture, dating from after 1765 and stamped B.V.R.B., must be attributed to Bernard (III), which would seem to indicate that he continued to use his father's stamp. These were also pieces in Japanese lacquer, which shows that he continued to work for the marchands-merciers: a commode à vantaux in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Kress Collection), as well as a pair of small commodes à vantaux in the Frick Collection, a commode à vantaux and a matching pair of encoignures formerly in the Baron Lepic Collection (sale, Paris, 18 June 1887, lots 44-45) and another commode reproduced in Paris Furniture by Charles Packer (Newport, Monmouthshire, 1956, fig. 72). The similarity of these pieces to the commode by Joseph sold in 1766 by Poirier to the Marquis de Marigny leads one to believe that all these pieces were also made for Poirier and can be dated around the years 1766-70.
