Louisa Courtauld (1729–1807) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 silversmith

Silversmith

A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...

.

Daughter of a silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

 weaver from France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Courtauld was born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, in which city she spent most of her career. She lived in a cottage behind Joseph Priestley's

Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...

 house off Clapton Square

Clapton Square

The Clapton Square Conservation Area, Hackney, was designated in 1969 and extended in 1991 & 2000. It is protected by Acts of Parliament as a London Square. It is dominated by the Church of St John-at-Hackney built in 1792-97, and St John’s Gardens. Its made up of listed late Georgian terraces on...

 on the corner of Clapton Passage and Lower Clapton Road in Hackney

Hackney Central

Hackney Central is the central district of the London Borough of Hackney in London, England. It comprises the area roughly surrounding, and extending north from Mare Street. It is situated north east of Charing Cross...

. At the age of 20 she married Samuel Courtauld (goldsmith), son of Augustin Courtauld, a metalsmith of Huguenot

Huguenot

The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 extraction. With him she had seven children, and until his death in 1765 they ran a successful business. After her husband died, Louisa continued to run the firm by herself; some years later, she took on George Cowles, who had been the head apprentice, as a business partner. In 1777 her son, Samuel Courtauld II, replaced him in that capacity. This arrangement lasted three years; when it ended the two closed the business. Samuel moved to America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, while Louisa retired to Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

.

Courtauld's firm was known for the high quality of its wares. She and her husband made their reputation with silver in the then-popular Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

 style from France; however, by the time of her partnership with Cowles, tastes had shifted towards Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...

, and the company changed its output accordingly.

Interestingly, Courtauld's father-in-law had studied with Simon Pantin, whose daughter, Elizabeth Godfrey

Elizabeth Godfrey

Elizabeth Godfrey was an English gold- and silversmith. She has been called "the most outstanding woman goldsmith of her generation."...

, was to become with Courtauld one of the very few female silversmiths of distinction in eighteenth-century London.