François Linke, the most important French ébéniste of his time.
François Linke was a leading Parisian ébéniste of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.!
Christopher Payne & Linke Furniture
Born in the small village of Pankraz in Sudetenland (now Jitrava in the Czech Republic), part of the vast and powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire, François Linke was the second son of eleven siblings.
His father was a subsistence farmer, the poor relation amongst a village full of cousins, most of who had trades that allowed them a better standard of living than Linke’s father Anton could ever hope to provide.
François, christened Franz, was apprenticed to a local cabinetmaker at the age of thirteen, travelled as a journeyman throughout the German-speaking world and eventually set his sights on Paris, the world centre for the arts.
My book François Linke 1855-1946 The Belle Epoque of French Furniture traces his early life through to his success in Paris at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900.
François Linke, born – 17th June 1855
1868 – 1873 – Apprenticeship
1873 – 1878 – Travelled Europe as