Louis-Joseph Lenhendrick

Very little is known about the early life of this talented goldsmith. Probably originally from Germany, he came to Paris at a young age and began an apprenticeship in August 1738 in the workshop, in the Galeries du Louvre, of Thomas Germain (1673-1748), who was the most important Parisian goldsmith of the time. Less than a decade later, on May 17, 1747, he became a Master goldsmith in Paris, opening his own workshop and continuing to work with the Germain workshop, that is, with François-Thomas Germain, the son of his former master. Going into partnership with Germain, Lenhendrick participated in executing many prestigious commissions for the courts of Versailles, Lisbon, and Saint Petersburg. It was for the latter that he took part in the creation of the famous Orloff service, which Czarina Catherine II gave to her favorite. A magnificent silver gilt candelabra by Lenhendrick is on display in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon (see El Gusto “a la griega”, Nacimiento del Neoclasicismo francés, Madrid, 2008, p. 186).