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Baumhauer, Joseph
(d Paris, 22 March 1772). French cabinetmaker of German birth. About 1749 he became Marchand Ebéniste Privilégié du Roy Suivant la Cour et Conseils de Sa Majesté. He was active during the reign of Louis XV and was the only French cabinetmaker who was equally competent in both the Louis XV and Neo-classical styles. His pieces were few but of an extremely high standard; he employed fine wood marquetry, Japanese lacquer and Boulle marquetry, as well as producing rigorous bronzes. Although he was little known to the general public of his own day, such leading dealers as Léger Bertin, Hébert, Charles Darnault, Lazare Duvaux, Poirier and Claude-François Julliot gave him commissions, and through them he was patronized by a fashionable élite. His extant works in the Louis XV style include desks fitted with porcelain plaques, a series of sumptuous marquetry commodes (e.g. c. 1755; Toledo, OH, Mus. A.) and an astonishing upright writing-table (1758; Philadelphia, PA, Mus. A.) made for the Comte de Coblenz. About 1756 he made the famous bureau plat (Chantilly, Mus. Condé) in an early Neo-classical style for Ange-Laurent de la Live de Jully, which was based on architectural designs by Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain. The final phase of Baumhauer’s career was marked by the production of pieces of furniture intended for such patrons as Queen Louisa Ulrica of Sweden, the Marquis de Marigny, the Duchesse de Mazarin, the Marquis de Brunoy, Augustin Blondel de Gagny and Paul Randon de Boisset. Baumhauer’s son Gaspard Baumhauer used his father’s stamp until 1777 on works in his father’s style.
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