Louisa Courtauld

Pencil drawing on beige ground of the head of a young woman in profile. She has light skin, flush peach cheeks, and curly brown hair pulled up in a bun.

Portrait of Louisa Courtauld, ca. 1800; The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London

1729 to 1807

The child of a prominent French silk weaver, silversmith Louisa Ogier was born in London, and at age 20 she married Samuel Courtauld. His family, including father Augustin Courtauld, was part of an 18th-century Huguenot goldsmithing dynasty.

Louisa Courtauld and her husband ran a highly successful business and had seven children. Courtauld continued to run the firm on her own after her husband’s death in 1765, carrying on the venerable family tradition of producing high-quality silver.

Her ongoing success was due in part to her ability to adapt to changing times. Although she originally established the firm’s reputation with silver in the French Rococo style, she shifted production to more restrained Neoclassical designs as they came into vogue.

Courtauld later sold the business and retired to Essex. One of Courtauld’s surviving sons, George, apprenticed with a silk thrower, a textile artisan who twists or spins silk and prepares it for weaving. This connection with the textile industry ultimately led to the fortune on which the Courtauld Institute of Art was founded in 1931 and the Courtaulds PLC, the international textile company was established.

Artist Details

  • Name

    Louisa Courtauld

  • Birth

    London, 1729

  • Death

    Essex, England, 1807

Works by Louisa Courtauld

Pair of George III tea caddies

In the mid-18th century, tea was still a rare and valuable commodity in the Western world. The exotic and fashionable hot beverage inspired an array of specially designed containers and utensils, including caddies to hold dried tea leaves....

View Artwork Details
Pair of silver tea caddies with a round base, curved handles and goblet-like shape. Large swaths of polished silver are decorated with drapery punctuated by masks and narrow bands of leaflike patterns. The circular tops are decorated with an oval shape resembling an almond.

Louisa Perina Courtauld; Samuel I Courtauld, George III tea caddy, 1766; Silver, 7 3/8 x 4 1/8 x 4 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Silver collection assembled by Nancy Valentine, purchased with funds donated by Mr. and Mrs. Oliver R. Grace and family