Hi there
I am all for the club and would like to join. Thanks for doing that
Paul.
I had my first encounter with marquetry in my 4th year in Ecole Boulle, when we had to visit and learn and get familiarized with other workshop. I spend a month glass cutting, beveling, decorating, sand blasting…, then a month staining polishing, then another month in marquetry. I loved it, I even cheated to stay 2 months.
I tried different tools, the scroll saw, the overhead saw, but definitely the chevalet was most students favorite.
During this summer with to other friends from the marquetry workshop we made 3 chevalets. Mine followed me around, first in my living-room, were it was very handy as you can sit uncomfortably 2 person on it and the arm is great to put your glass on. Then my workshop.
When I did emigrate to join Patrick Edwards at Antique Refinishers and the American School of French Marquetry, here in San Diego, I had to find a keeper, a chevalet sitter, as I will never get rid of it. It is like a first love, my first chevalet. I will not compare as a first car, sorry guys, I am not americanized enough yet.
JR45, I do not dislike english people you are right, but you can not say there is only friendship admiration and deep liking between our countries, you call us frog, we call you rosbeef, and with that spelling. I know… Entente cordiale is nice (and lets keep it that way) but recent in regard of the deep and long history of dislike before that between our countries. To be clear, the hundred years war was just a wee bit of it. But do not worry about the french english thing, here I deal with the american french stuff. We are suppose to hate each other also, as it seems…
But this is not the subject.
Regarding the fact that the chevalet is called a donkey by the english, it comes from the french, as the ancester of the chevalet was called an "asne" or "âne" in new french, which can be roughly translated as… donkey!!! And I strongly believe it comes from the italian before that, this remain to be checked. I will have to learn italian first…
You can find where we are at in our research on the subject presently in a
post Patrick made on his blog, which features an "Asne", donkey. Here is the earlier illustration I found so far, 1676
The "âne" after the addition of the arm at some point became a chevalet. We haven't found that yet, but it stayed a donkey for the english speakers.
On my side, maybe I am to romantic, to many 19th century reading, I am very attached to the chevalet term and especially signification, an "easel" for painting in wood, I think it makes our passion, marquetry, stand more as an art form, rather than a mere discipline. We are no more riding a horse on a daily journey man!!! (pun intended), but we sit on our easels to create, as painters, only with wood.