Charles Cressent

Born in Amiens in 1685, Charles Cressent was a sculptor at his beginnings. His formation explains the importance he gave in his pieces of furniture to the bronze decors, whose motifs are treated with such a sculptural scale that the wood work is present only to emphasize it. Creator of some of the most beautiful pieces of furniture of his era, he has also been in the inventor of very original clocks and andirons. Although cabinetmaker of the Regent until the latter's death in 1723, the essential of his work is subsequent, in a measured Louis XV style.
This very complete book by Alexandre Pradère is the fruit of the gathering of numerous documents, of their rigorous interpretation and a new approach of the master's life and work. To the study of different kind of furniture is added a catalogue raisonne of the works attributed to Cressent.