BIFMO, in association with the FHS, is hosting an online lecture (free to members) by Dr Tessa Murdoch, Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Research Curator at the V & A. 

She will trace the migration of Huguenot cabinet-makers, carpenters, carvers, decorative painters, gilders and specialists in ormolu and tapestry weavers from France to London. She will consider and illustrate her presentation with examples of their output in Britain in a diverse range of locations: churches, country houses, museums, private and royal collections, not to mention dealer’s stock. In addition, she will refer to documentary evidence including published designs and trade cards. For this presentation, Dr Murdoch will draw on 40 years’ experience of investigating this productive minority and strives to encourage present and future furniture historians to join her in this most fascinating area of research.

Walnut stand for marble table, Pierre Rieusset, London, circa 1697. Buccleuch Collection, Boughton House, Northamptonshire

Dr Tessa Murdoch received her PhD on ‘Huguenot artists, designers and craftsmen in Great Britain and Ireland, 1680–1760’ at Westfield College, University of London in 1982. At the Museum of London from 1981, she curated the exhibition 'The Quiet Conquest: The Huguenots 1685–1985'. She was Deputy Keeper of Sculpture, Metalwork and Glass at the V&A and is now the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Research Curator there. She was lead curator for the V&A’s Sacred Silver and Stained Glass Galleries (2005) and the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries (2009).

Her publishing and curating experience and output is extensive; ranging from editing Noble Households: Eighteenth Century Inventories of Great English Houses: A Tribute to John Cornforth (2006) to Beyond the Border: Huguenot Goldsmiths in Northern Europe and North America (2008) Tessa has written many articles about the influence of the Huguenot craftsmen in Europe and Britain; in particular her article about ‘Jean, René and Thomas Pelletier, a Huguenot family of carvers and gilders in England 1682-1726’, The Burlington Magazine, Part 1 (November 1997); Part II (June 1998). It is also with great excitement that we anticipate her forthcoming book Europe Divided: Huguenot Refugee Art and Culture which will be published by the V&A in November 2021.

An email containing the details for joining this lecture will be sent in due course.

This event is free for FHS members, £5 for non-members.

To pay for this event online please follow this link https://www.furniturehistorysociety.org/events/bifmo-online-lecture-dr-tessa-murdoch/payment/ and, when prompted, enter the code EBANET.