My friend Ann Mactaggart, who has died aged 86, spent a number of years working as an art and domestic science teacher before moving into the antiques business and then using her artistic skills to become an expert on harpsichord restoration. She was also a fine dressmaker, and wrote a book on the subject that was popular at home and abroad.
Ann was born in Bath as the only child of Bob Lewis, a paper mill salesman, and Joan (nee Gamble), a milliner. She had an unusual upbringing, living in Kent on the yacht Esmeralda, which was moored in the Gravesend canal basin, before moving on to dry land at the old Harbour Master’s House in the village of Axmouth in Devon, where their boat was moored alongside.
After secondary school she had a period working as a clerk for Barclays Bank, then in the late 1950s did teacher training at Bath Academy of Art’s Corsham College site in Wiltshire, later becoming an art and domestic science teacher in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, so as to be near her grandparents. There she met Peter Mactaggart, who worked in his family’s antique business. They married in 1963 and eventually Ann gave up teaching to join the firm. Her artistic talents were well employed there, and as well as going off with Peter on buying trips, she took up the upholstery and french polishing side of the operation.
As a teacher Ann, who was an accomplished seamstress, had taught sewing and dressmaking, compiling extensive and beautifully illustrated notes to help her pupils. Once she had left that line of work, Peter suggested she should make the notes into a book, and the result was Dressmaking in Detail, published in 1975. It went to many editions, both in the UK and further afield.
The antiques business closed down on the death of Peter’s father in 1970, and Peter and Ann then devoted themselves to restoration work, becoming well known for their work on harpsichords. Ann became so expert that she was commissioned to design and execute the painted decoration of new examples, including for the celebrated instrument maker David Rubio.
Among many specialities was the printing of papers for the decoration of copies of harpsichords made by members of the Ruckers family of Antwerp; Ann drew out the designs, Peter carved them into wooden blocks and together they printed them on a Harrild hand-operated press. Their beautifully produced papers were sold to harpsichord builders worldwide for many years.
The Mactaggarts were exacting in all they did, and took great interest in discovering exactly which pigments had been used for painted decorations on the various harpsichords they restored. Later they ran week-long pigment identification courses that were attended by restorers from all over the globe.
Together they also wrote Practical Gilding (1985), which is still in print and selling well.
