Maple over mahogany: Nicholas Biddle's taste in Empire furniture, 1820-1844

Abstract

Nicholas Biddle was a President of the Second Bank of the United States, a Francophile, a proponent of Greek architecture, and one of the most famous men of his day. His family traveled in the fashionable circles of Philadelphia. In order to play his role in society Biddle filled his homes with material possessions. While these purchases represented the tools needed to “fit-in” with his own social class, the specific characteristics of those objects reveal Biddle as a man with an individual aesthetic. Extant furniture at Andalusia, Biddle's country estate, in combination with 1820s and 1830s expense books, formed the basis for research into Biddle's personal taste. This thesis analyzes (1) what influenced Biddle's choices, and (2) how the extant furniture suggests his taste reflected or deviated from social and material trends.