Object of Desire
by Sarah Hall, director of Curatorial Affairs
Jean-Pierre Latz Regal Parlor Organ Latz's business prospered throughout the 1740s. His specialty was the making of clock cases, and one of his finest clocks is in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. In 1749, Latz's workshop was visited by members of the Paris guild of workers in metal, who rightly suspected that he was employing members outside of their strict guild system to cast and finish the metal mounts used on his cabinetry. Tools, models and unfinished mounts—numbering over 2,000—were seized as evidence. From this point on, Latz was forced to outsource his metalworking to guild members, although he still often provided the models from which the ornaments were cast. |
 Jean-Pierre Latz (French, born Germany, c. 1691–1754) and Francois Duhamel (French, 18th century). Parlor Organ, c. 1750. Marquetry of various woods. gilt bronze (ormolu) mounts, petit point pedal. Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, 1970.24. |
It is thought that this organ was made for Marie Louise Elisabeth (1727–1759), daughter of King Louis XV and Queen Maria Leszczynska (whose portrait by Jean-Marc Nattier hangs in the same gallery where the organ is displayed). She was one of Latz's regular patrons, as were the Kings of Prussia and Poland.
Beginning in the middle of the 18th century, furniture makers were required to stamp their pieces with a personal mark. In the case of Latz, the furniture bearing his name was largely made toward the end of his career, or even in the period following his death when his wife continued to operate the shop along with his former assistant.
Miss Frick had the organ restored to playing condition in 1975, and it was played in a recital in 1976, the man responsible for the restoration attended and afterward commented, "the organ lent the same light diversion to the program that it would have when it was new." An instrument, indeed, fit for a princess.
