Let me clarify this part of my thinking: That line has moved a lot since the lifetime of Thomas Chippendale.
When you think about what it would take to build an ornately carved mahogany highboy with a high gloss varnish in 1750 versus today, including logging, transporting exotic wood around the planet, the actual woodworking…hell, just compare applying a shellac french polish versus spray lacquer today.
It’s just not ubiquitous. And to say that paying a woodworker to carve intricate details is a useless waste of their time strikes as insulting to the craftsman in any time period.
I mean, even under the most cynical representation, the patrons of the classical period were a bunch of wankers too. But I wouldn’t besmirch the musicians, or the music, or what came of it in modern times.
Let me clarify this part of my thinking: That line has moved a lot since the lifetime of Thomas Chippendale.
When you think about what it would take to build an ornately carved mahogany highboy with a high gloss varnish in 1750 versus today, including logging, transporting exotic wood around the planet, the actual woodworking…hell, just compare applying a shellac french polish versus spray lacquer today.
K
It’s just not ubiquitous. And to say that paying a woodworker to carve intricate details is a useless waste of their time strikes as insulting to the craftsman in any time period.
I mean, even under the most cynical representation, the patrons of the classical period were a bunch of wankers too. But I wouldn’t besmirch the musicians, or the music, or what came of it in modern times.