VANDERCRUSE, Roger
(b. 1728, Paris, d. 1799, Paris)

Biography

Roger Vandercruse (also Roger Lacroix), French cabinetmaker. He became a maitre-ébéniste in 1755 and about this time he took over the workshop of his father, François Vandercruse. He was related to the cabinetmakers Jean-Henri Riesener, Martin Carlin, Etienne Levasseur, Pioniez, Nicolas-Jean Marchand and the brothers Jean-François Oeben and Simon Oeben. He stamped his work R.V.L.C.

He was very successful and worked for Louis-Philippe, 4th Duc d'Orléans, the Comtesse Du Barry and the Garde Meuble de la Couronne through Gilles Joubert and Riesener. He moved with ease from the Louis XV to the Neo-classical style and mastered all types of marquetry: geometric, floral (e.g. secrétaire à abattant, c. 1770; Petit Palais, Paris) and a trellis design known as 'à la Reine' on a citrus-wood ground (Victoria and Albert Museum, London). He also used mahogany veneering (Musée Carnavalet, Paris) and porcelain from the factory of Sèvres to embellish some secrétaires (e.g. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and many small tables (e.g. work-table, c. 1760; Wallace Collection, London). His furniture, while often ingenious, displays great rigour and elegance.