The History of the Easel
Antique Easels
Over the years certain easels have made an impact in the world of antique collecting and furniture refinishing. Falling into the miscellaneous or "accessories" category with numerous types of stands including mirror stands, candle stands, music stands, sewing stands, basin stands, wash stands, kettle stands, sewing stands, smoking stands, and also fire screens, pole screens, or floor mirrors, extant antique easels are not common but can be found when searched for. Artist easels seem to be used into oblivion, but several decorative easels and display easels have lasted hundreds of years.
In the U.S., easel manufacturing began before the Civil War: "Ornamental easels for displaying paintings or prints in domestic interiors were made in America as early as the first quarter of the 19th century..." However, "the form did not become common until the rapid proliferation of furniture displaying artwork during the 1870's."21 An Eastlake-influenced display easel has been found to date back to approximately 1870-1885, probably made in New York, and sports a swinging partition at its base, presumably for storing prints. Most of the walnut surface on this easel is left exposed except where it is "ebonized in order to accent the restrained incised and gilt ornament typical of the 1870's."22 Another display easel from the same era and also made in New York, can be found in the Brooklyn Museum. This easel displays a similarly "extravagant use of gilded and incised detail on the easel's relatively flat members."23
One specimen of an artist's easel made in the vicinity of Boston or New York around 1805-1815 that may have survived is that of the American artist Henry Sargent (1770-1845).24 Though it cannot be proved that Sargent used it himself, "a Classical Revival style easel with ormolu mounts descended in the Sargent family of Boston and may have belonged to the painter..."25 The suspicion that Henry himself may have used this particular display easel is reinforced by the depiction of the same (or indistinguishably similar) in one of his paintings.26
Slightly different than some of the watercolor easels or presentation easels we have come to expect, one specific antique dates back to the late 18th century, called an "artist's wood cabinet."27 Similar to a display easel in appearance, this wooden easel actually stores rather than displays an artist's work within its elegant mahogany cabinet. A drawer is supplied for storage of watercolor supplies, oil paints and brushes, or whatever art supplies the owner desired to stash away.
| Beginnings | Medieval Era | Renaissance | Easel Painting | Antique Easels | Customized Easels | Conclusion |
