Recreating Aitchison’s studio bookcases
Luke Hughes shares the history of recreating Leighton’s bespoke lost furniture
Once framing the screen at the end of his grand Studio - a pair of stunning bookcases designed by Leighton House architect, George Aitchison - were sold at auction after Leighton’s death in 1896 and are now lost.
As part of the museums’ efforts to present the house as it was in Leighton's time, Leighton House teamed up with the furniture designers at Luke Hughes and Company to recreate the cabinets and to fill them once again with texts from Leighton 's library.
Despite no original drawings of the bespoke bookcases surviving, Leighton’s Studio was frequently featured in the Victorian press, and surviving 19th century photographs offered just enough detail for a forensic eye to recreate the original design. The task of recreating these designs required a painstaking but rewarding collaboration between the principal designer, Luke Hughes, and the Leighton House curatorial team.
Frederic Leighton in his Studio with Aitchison's original bookcases
Inlaid with fruitwood and lapis lazuli, with elaborate Greek Revival detailing, the designs clearly matched the stylised patterns of the woodwork elsewhere in the building and were key design features of the house.
Utilising new technologies, the team at Luke Hughes and Company were able to achieve exact precision when recreating the finer details, including the casting of the acanthus leaves (which were carved in limewood and then cast) and the laser-cutting of the marquetry (which is inlaid with holly).
Holly marquetry detailing and palm leaf column end
The development and production drawings were prepared by Stephen Sharp, Laura Tunstall, and Katie Spence; the acanthus leaves and the acroteria were carved and moulded by Clunie Fretton; the marquetry work was executed out by John & Louise Cropper; the lapis lazuli inlays came from Afghanistan via Turquoise Mountain; and the construction and finishing of the carcases was undertaken by Mike Gilder.
The recreated bookcases, recently installed in the studio at Leighton House
Bringing Leighton's library alive
The books themselves provide an insight into Leighton’s interests. Books played a very important role in his life and in the presentation of the house, with the studio, in particular, notably full of them. There were books on travel, architecture, mythology, ceramics, antiques...but also publications by fellow artists, contemporary fiction and the complete works of Shakespeare. The fact that Leighton’s travels meant he was fluent in four languages (English, German, French and Italian) also meant that many of the books in his collection were in a range of different languages.
It is hoped that by reintroducing the bookcases and their contents, together with the re-presentation of the adjoining Winter Studio as a more practical working environment (as part of the wider Hidden Gem to National Treasure redevelopment), that visitors will have a greater sense of how Leighton used his working spaces and the lengths he went to in creating bespoke furniture to suit his needs.
Restoring Leighton's book collection
Previous commissions to recreate Leighton’s lost furniture
Designing occasional pieces of furniture for Leighton House over the last forty years has been a little like playing the after-dinner parlour-game ‘In The Manner Of The Word’ in which you are given a fragment of an old photograph then expected to offer an impromptu performance to amuse the assembled company.
Luke Hughes was first commissioned in 1982 by the then curator, Stephen Jones, to make two black-lacquered glazed mahogany display cases to house some of the museums De Morgan collection of ceramics.
More parlour games in 2010, when Jones’s successor, Daniel Robbins, asked if a new desk could be made to sit in Leighton’s library, which had been without its centrepiece since Leighton’s death.
A few years later, in 2016, funds were raised to commission a replica of Aitchison’ elaborately architectural sideboard in the dining room, based on photographs and engravings from Leighton’s lifetime. Used for the display of a collection of contemporary ceramics (again, inspired by Leighton’s original collection) the pieces now on display were created for the museum by the Turkish master craftsman, Ismail Yigit.
Recreation of Leighton's dining room sideboard
The project to recreate Aitchison’s studio bookcases has been made possible thanks to the support of The Friends. Find out more about how to support their work and join The Friends as a member.
To learn more about Luke Hughes furniture design, please visit: www.lukehughes.co.uk