Dandy Carriages: travelling around the eighteenth century
Caroline Archer-Parré, Amy Bracey, Ann-Marie Carey, Malcolm Dick, Ann Inscker, Yvonne Jones, John Townley,
Funded: Pilgrim Trust, Baskerville Society, Carriage Foundation
‘Dandy Carriages’ is an interdisciplinary project that contributes to the history of industrial innovation and applied art. At its heart are two eighteenth-century horse-drawn vehicles currently housed in Nottingham Industrial Museum—a Landau and a Post-Phaeton—made for John Baskerville (1707–75), japanner, printer, and type founder of Birmingham. Bringing together heritage scientists, craftspeople and historians, alongside experts in carriage design, japanning and painting, this pilot project considers carriage decoration using scientific, artistic, and artisanal methods.
These historically important carriages were initially associated with someone who was not their original owner. Recent research has reattributed them to John Baskerville. The carriages are unique: the Landau is the earliest model in existence, whilst the Post-Phaeton is the only example in the world. Their importance is amplified though their provenance with Baskerville.
Whilst there is some research on the artistic elements of carriage design, little is understood about British carriage-making, and nothing is known of Birmingham’s—or potentially Baskerville’s—role in that trade. This project aims to fill that gap in knowledge, and extend understanding of Baskerville as a businessman, artist, and cultural figure. It will also address a theory that Birmingham, not Europe, was in the vanguard of eighteenth-century carriage decoration.
