FRENCH FURNITURE.
The glory of the French Renaissance had begun to wane when Louis XIII.
came to the throne in 1614, and by the time of his death in 1643 it
had become hardly more than a tradition. Its strongest period had been
during that century which embraced the reigns of five sovereigns,
Francis I., and II., and Henry II., III., and IV. This was from 1515
to 1610, and, of all monarchs who held the throne of France, Francis
I., who sat upon it thirty-two years, did more for it in raising the
standard of art than had been done by his predecessors in a century,
though Henry II. and Henry IV. had made their reigns notable.
[Illustration: Figure 71. BEDROOM OF ANNE OF AUSTRIA AT FONTAINEBLEAU.]
Rich, ambitious to have France as great in art as Italy, Francis was
a liberal patron, and invited to Paris, the centre of all literature
and art in France, painters, sculptors, and architects. Italy had
difficulties to contend with from the fact that she was divided into
many small principalities and dominated by many schools. Florence,
Milan, Sienna, Naples,--each had their distinctive styles; but in
France the court of Francis was the pivot upon which all the arts
turned. He built that series of chateaus which remain among the wonders
of the world,--Chambord, Chenonceau, and Fontainebleau. He left traces
of his taste on mediæval Amboise, remodelled the Louvre, and finished
the restoration of Blois which had been begun by Louis XII. The
throes through which France has passed has swept away some of her
choicest historic monuments, but Fontainebleau remains a true example
of French Renaissance. With this fine old palace are connected some of
the most critical moments of French history. In one of its rooms was
signed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; Condé was murdered here
in the library, or Gallery of Diana. On the great curved staircase
Napoleon bade adieu to what remained of the Old Guard before he went
to Elba, and on a little table in one of the six rooms which might be
called the suite of the First Empire, extending back of the gallery of
Francis I. he signed his act of abdication.
The decorations of this palace are superb, the very flower of the
French Renaissance. Oak, carved and gilded, wainscots the walls in many
of the rooms, but in the chamber of Anne of Austria, shown in Figure
71, the wainscoting consists of carved panels framed in marbles, and
above them carved figures stand out from the painted walls, which
are divided by oak mouldings into sections, while a beautiful carved
cornice of scallop-shells on a gold ground surrounds the room.
The French, as no other nation has ever done, set in a fitting shrine
the beautiful furniture which they made; the decoration of walls,
doors, ceilings, and fireplace always playing an important part in the
whole scheme. The French "style," a word on which Lady Dilke strongly
insists in her great work on "French Furniture of the XVIII Century,"
was unmistakably impressed on all they attempted. The woodwork was
lighter and more openly carved than Italian work of the same period.
Even when made by Italian workmen who swarmed to the French court under
promise of abundant employment and rich emolument, the work was imbued
with the French spirit and an elegance with which even Italy could not
vie.
The noble appreciation which had grown up in France was fostered by
Louis XIV. when he came to the throne, not so much for art's sake as
for his own aggrandizement, and to make his court the most elegant in
the world. Louis contemned the style of elegance and luxury begun in an
earlier reign, and artists of even superior merit were set to work to
make beautiful the homes of those uncrowned queens on whom the "Grand
Monarch" lavished such immense sums of money. Versailles was enriched,
the lovely gardens planned by Le Notre, with their superb flower beds
and fountains, the "green carpet" of turf down which the monarch loved
to walk, were all made with enormous outlay of money.
The hotels and buildings at Versailles set apart for the service of the
king and his attendants were numbered by hundreds. There were the royal
stables, the new hotel of the Governor of Versailles, the green rooms
of the actors who performed at the palace, the hotel of the keeper
of the wardrobe, the hotel of the guardsmen, the English garden, the
riding-school, the king's icehouses, the houses of the body-guard, and
so on. Street after street was filled with these buildings, besides
those devoted to falconry, boar-hunting, the kennels, the little
stables, and those filled with shops, vegetable gardens, etc., and in
addition that great habitation occupied by more than two thousand
persons, with other buildings called "Louises" where the king assigned
temporary or permanent lodgings. The great stables built in 1682 and
costing 3,000,000 francs are some of the few buildings left to show the
magnificence of old Versailles. They were so ample and beautiful that
under the direction of the great Louis himself they served sometimes as
a ball-room, sometimes as a theatre, and more often as a circus for the
princes.
[Illustration: Figure 72. BED OF LOUIS XIV AT VERSAILLES.]
There is a bound volume extant, bearing the name of Mansart, in which
the cost of the palace is given at 153,000,000 francs. This was but the
casket itself without any of its furnishings. Louis preferred to live
in the open air, and the gardens were merely outdoor drawing-rooms,
where people conversed and exchanged the compliments of the day. Round
his person the king loved to group his retinue, and down the broad
staircases of the gardens sixty ladies with hoopskirts measuring
twenty-four feet in circumference could move easily. On the outskirts
were a swarm of courtiers and servants in uniforms, costumes, and
liveries as brilliant as the rainbow.
Consider the life of one of these courtiers under the reign of Louis
XIV. Here is the routine of the Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Master of the
Hounds:
--"He never missed the king's rising or retiring, both changes of
dress every day, the hunts and promenades likewise every day, for
ten years in succession. Never sleeping away from the place where
the king rested, not able to stay away all night, and yet obliged
to dine away from court."
Even after the court etiquette became more stiff and precise, and the
formal manners arranged by Louis and Madame de Maintenon were in daily
practice, the smaller details of life remained as elegant as possible.
Hoopskirts of such size as has been mentioned were too enormous for
chairs, so a sort of stool without arms or back became a necessary
article of furniture. One sofa, two arm-chairs, and nine stools were a
proper proportion for a set to furnish a room, and these were stiffly
set about the walls, leaving the middle of the room quite bare.
In Figure 72 is shown part of the bedroom of Louis XIV. at Versailles,
with the elaborate decorations which were lavished on that palace,
and the furniture which accompanied it. Tapestry-covered chairs and
hangings of the richest embroidery were all in harmony with the
splendid walls. The tall bronze girandoles were Cupids supporting
branches of flowers in ormolu to hold candles. Over the doors were
portraits or mirrors surmounted by carved and gilt figures with
garlands of flowers. The decorated Boulle cabinet on the right is very
different in its lines from those articles as seen in the succeeding
reign, when everything assumed a lighter air. The curtains to the bed
could completely enfold it, and to their sheltering depths the great
Louis is said to have retired before removing his wig.
The chairs shown in Figure 73 are of this period, the one upon the
right retaining its original covering, the woodwork being carved and
gilt. The cane chair on the left is of walnut, and the one in the
centre, carved and gilt, is a French adaptation of a Flemish design.
[Illustration: Figure 73. CHAIRS OF THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XIV.]
It is difficult to re-people one of these splendid rooms and consider a
period when, as M. Taine says, "life was wholly operatic." The grandee
lived in a state of luxury and grandeur. His trappings were as
magnificent as he could make them, and his household was filled with
military as well as civil appointments, approaching as nearly to that
of the king as possible.
The king must have a stable, so at Versailles were 1,875 horses, 217
vehicles, and 1,458 men who were clothed in liveries costing 540,000
francs a year. This is but a single item in the great total considered
under fifty or sixty heads. To wait on the king himself, 198 persons
were required; some fetched his mall and balls; some combed his hair;
others watched his dogs; and there were those who tied his necktie
after it had been properly folded. Some there were whose sole business
it was to stand in a corner which was not to be left empty.
The policy which prescribed the custom at court was all for
ostentatious display. St. Simon says:
"He (Louis XIV.) was pleased to see a display of dress, table,
equipages, buildings, and play; these afforded him opportunities
for entering into conversation with people. The contagion had
spread from the court into the provinces and to the armies, where
people of any position were esteemed only according to their table
and magnificence."
Louis had so dominated the whole court life that he had brought his
courtiers to believe that the main thing in life for layman and
churchman, and for women and men alike, was to be at all hours and in
every place under the king's eye and within reach of his voice.
With all this army of personal attendants to feed, clothe, and shelter,
the repairs to houses and furniture represented immense sums yearly,
and many establishments were taken under royal patronage in order to
command their products and to reduce the expenditures.
The history of French furniture is quite closely connected with the
history of tapestry, for after a time it was used as a covering.
Francis I., who appreciated the value of this textile as an ornament
as well as a covering for his walls, and unwilling to buy all his
pieces from the skilful looms of Flanders, started a factory in 1531
at Fontainebleau. In 1603 a new factory was started at Paris, under
royal patronage, in the workshop of a family of dyers named Gobelin.
The first workers were Flemish weavers who were brought over to teach
the craft to Frenchmen. Louis XIV. protected the factory through the
mediumship of that great financier, Colbert, who appointed Le Brun, the
artist, director of the works. In 1667 the factory became the property
of the Crown, and most artistic and elegant productions were made.
Not only in France did the Gobelins find patronage, but in England as
well their work was in great demand. Evelyn writes in the last years of
the reign of Charles II.:
--"Here I saw the new fabriq of French tapisstry; for designe,
tendernesse of worke, and incomparable imitationn of the best
paintings beyond anything I ever beheld. Some pieces had
Versailles, St. Germain's, and other palaces of the French King,
with huntings, figures, and landskips, exotiq fowls, and all to
the life rarely don."
The golden age of Louis XIV. saw also the golden age of tapestry, for
it was during his reign that the proud and royal factory at Aubusson
was at its highest estate. The tapestries sent out from this factory
were not mere imitations as close as possible of painted pictures.
The limitations of the process were ever considered, and the number of
gradations in every tint was limited so that the dangers of unequal
fading reached their lowest point. The beautiful borders which
surrounded the central picture were designed and executed with the same
care that was bestowed on the centre, and formed a part of the whole
that could ill be spared.
[Illustration: BEAUVAIS, LOUIS XVI.]
[Illustration: GOBELIN, LOUIS XIV.]
[Illustration: AUBUSSON, LOUIS XIV.]
[Illustration: Figure 74. TAPESTRY FURNITURE.]
The tapestries worked late in the seventeenth century and early in the
eighteenth, before the spirit of commercialism had been suffered to
encroach on what up to that time had been carefully fostered art work,
were all examples of great beauty and merit. In 1694, Louis having lost
interest in the manufactory, and Colbert and Le Brun being dead, the
works at the Gobelins' factories declined, and they became financially
embarrassed. Still the great name was in high esteem, and its more than
national reputation was retained. The splendid works which had been
sent out from the loom, "The Triumph of Alexander," "The History of the
King," "The Elements," and "The Seasons," were no longer in demand.
Fontaine's fables and "The Adventures of Don Quixote" took the place of
the more dignified designs, and at last sets of chair-backs and sofa
covers were woven where previously historic subjects of heroic size had
been demanded. Every year there were "_Chancelleries_" made,--series
of hangings adorned with the royal arms, which the king gave to his
chancellors.
"The Adventures of Don Quixote" consisted of a set of from twenty to
twenty-eight pieces, and so pleased the public taste that sets were
being continually woven from 1723 till the times of the Revolution.
They were varied by the different colours of the background, and also
by having different borders, some of them designed by artists like
Lemaire the younger, and of great beauty. By 1736 the manufactory once
more received assistance and patronage from the Crown, and famous old
models were renewed, and two new sets, from "The Story of Esther," and
"The Story of Medea and Jason," were designed. About the middle of the
century came the fatal desire to copy paintings as they came from the
hand of the artist, and the traditions which had governed the labor
of the tapestry-worker for centuries were thrown aside. In vain the
workmen protested: good taste and the principles of decoration were
sacrificed, and the artist triumphed. The only check to the artist's
exactions was the immense cost of production, for the painter was
totally ignorant of the practical difficulties which had to be overcome
in carrying out his designs; and as the tapestry-workers were paid by
the piece they could no longer calculate or limit the cost of execution.
The Beauvais tapestries were long granted superior excellence in
flower forms, trees, etc., and for figures also, and they held to the
styles in which they excelled. But the Gobelins after 1740 no longer
did work which was not fashionable and profitable. In 1755 Boucher,
the well-known artist, was appointed director of the Gobelins, and,
like his predecessors, believed in simulating, as far as possible the
painter's art. There is tragedy in the history of the devoted band of
workers who, ill-paid, and not sufficiently recognized, laboured at
the looms and in the dye-house to carry out the artist's ideas. One of
them Quimiset, a chemist of undoubted ability, committed suicide.
Neilson and Audran were both ruined financially; and yet these servants
of the crown were not allowed to leave Paris to better their fortunes.
[Illustration: Figure 75. COMMODES OF THE TIME OF LOUIS XV.]
The Gobelins began to produce tapestry for furniture only during the
last half of the eighteenth century. This work was undertaken in hopes
of financial profit, for the competition of woven and embroidered
stuffs from England, as well as the novelty of English paper-hangings,
had crippled them excessively. The very first pieces made were for
four chairs and a sofa, in 1748. These furniture tapestries became
immediately popular. Screens, seat, sofa and chair backs, showing
scenes, figures, ribbon-work, and garlands brought up the failing
fortune of Gobelin and made Beauvais wealthy. From this latter factory
came those coverings, with designs after Boucher, set in wooden frames
of the richest carving and gilt.
The cost of these works was as great as brocade and velvet, and crowded
out the embroiderers, who in turn aimed, with the means at their
command, to rival the efforts of the tapestry-workers. Then came that
most sumptuous combination of painting with embroidery, and in 1743 the
Duc de Luynes describes a new set of furniture for the queen's bedroom.
"It is of white gros de Tours, embroidered and painted, and
is quite complete, consisting of the bed, its hangings, the
fauteuils, and curtains."
During the Revolution, in 1793, a bonfire was made in the courtyard
of the Gobelin factory, and a set of hangings with designs of "The
Visit of Louis XIV. to the Gobelins," several _portieres_, and a set
of "_Chancelleries_" were burned. On another visit the cartoons of
Raphael were destroyed, those of "Esther" and "Medea" thrown out, and
everything with a tendency toward aristocracy discarded.
The terms "Beauvais," "Aubusson," etc., do not give their names to any
particular style of tapestry. The various factories wove according to
their requirements, and used silk, woolen, silver and gold thread as
the design called for it. In Figure 74 are given examples of work from
these famous establishments. The Louis XIV. screen is a silk panel,
the pattern being Flora, surrounded by Cupids and wreaths and garlands
of flowers. The design is by Berain, and was made at the Gobelins; the
frame is richly carved and gilt.
The Louis XVI. chair is covered with Beauvais tapestry--baskets of
flowers and scrolls. The lovely tints are hardly faded, or they
have so faded in harmony that it resembles the changing hues of
mother-of-pearl. The wooden frame is carved and gilded, a fit setting
for the beautiful tapestry. The sofa and chair are but two of a set,
the other pieces being nine more chairs. These are of the Louis XIV.
period and are covered with Aubusson tapestry,--crimson peonies on
a pale-green ground. The bow leg and carved knees are similar to
those shown in Figure 73, and, like the one on the right in that
illustration are gilded. At a recent sale held in Paris, when the
great collection of Madame Lelong was dispersed, the prices obtained
for these old tapestries, whether wall-coverings or on furniture, were
absolutely astonishing. A screen with four panels of Beauvais tapestry
illustrating La Fontaine's fables brought $3,700. One seat, of carved
and gilded wood, covered with a piece of Beauvais, brought $2,000,
and four chairs in carved and gilded wood with Beauvais tapestry
coverings brought $41,000. These prices, while sensational, give some
idea of the esteem in which these antiques are held. The tapestry
covered pieces shown belong to the Waring Galleries, London.
[Illustration: Figure 76. GARDEROBE, PERIOD OF LOUIS XV.]
The best-known name of any one man who worked in furniture during the
splendid reign of Louis XIV. was of André-Charles Boulle, b. 1642, d.
1732. The superb marquetry work he made, composed of brass, ivory,
tortoise-shell, gold, and a choice selection of woods from India,
Brazil, and other tropical countries, took the fancy of the king by
reason of its sumptuous nature. Boulle was given an apartment in the
Louvre and for his great master the celebrated _ébéniste_ composed his
choicest work. A cabinet of this work can be seen in Figure 72 to the
right of the bed.
In 1672 Louis XIV. had made Boulle engraver-in-ordinary of the royal
seals. The patent conferring this appointment calls Boulle "architect,
painter, carver in mosaic, artist in cabinet work, chaser, inlayer, and
designer of figures." The most important works of Boulle which records
show were at Versailles, like those he executed for foreign princes,
have disappeared. His workshops and studios were of vast extent;
he employed many workmen, and consulted for his models a priceless
collections of drawings, medals, and gems, comprising drawings by
Raphael, and that "manuscript journal kept by Rubens during his travels
in Italy and elsewhere, which contained his notes and studies in
painting and sculpture, copiously illustrated by pen-and-ink sketches."
In "French Furniture of the XVIII Century," by Lady Dilke, this
priceless collection belonging to Boulle is described at length, and
also the immense loss to which this worker was subjected when, in 1720,
his entire warehouses and shops were burned down. Boulle was an old
man at this time, and for the rest of his life ill-fortune followed
him, and he died wretchedly poor, leaving nothing but debts which for
years he had been forced to put off by every variety of makeshift. His
four sons, one of whom bore his father's name, never accomplished works
of such elegance and solidity as those of their father. They, too,
had endless misfortune, were ejected from the apartment in the Louvre
which had descended to them from their father, and died, as he did, in
poverty and misery.
Yet the splendid and showy style of furniture to which Boulle gave
his name remained in fashion and was made during the whole of the
eighteenth century. After the death of the younger Boulles, pupils who
had studied with their father and themselves carried on the work, and
of course there were imitators as well. Boulle did not invent this
style of decoration, for ebony cabinets ornamented with tortoise-shell
and copper were known in France long before Boulle was born. He simply
perfected the method of making it. Nor did he confine himself to this
particular style of marquetry, for he made works, mentioned in his
catalogue, of wood inlaid with other woods of various colours and
ornamented with bronze mounts.
[Illustration: Figure 77. BEDROOM OF MARIE ANTOINETTE AT THE LITTLE
TRIANON.]
Under the Regency, fashions changed, not only in manners and clothes,
but even in furniture and belongings as well, though this latter
change came slowly. The Duc d'Orleans and his daughter, the Duchesse
de Berri, conducted entertainments of so scandalous a nature that
even the French public was horrified; and gaming, which under Louis
XIV. had risen to prodigious extremes, became more furious still, and,
possessing all classes of society, spread ruin everywhere. The use of
looking-glasses for ornaments had become very much the vogue during the
period of Louis XIV.'s reign. They were introduced into walls opposite
windows, and in places where reflection would carry out the idea of
windows. The court beauties, both male and female, had the walls of
their bathrooms lined with them, and the frames in which they were set
were lavishly carved and gilded.
While Boulle's is associated with the reign of Louis XIV., with the
Regency the name of Charles Cressent rose to eminence. His work was
much like that of Boulle in character, but he gradually gave more
importance to the mounts of metal as a means of ornament, and used less
marquetry. He not only used floral forms for these metal decorations,
but modelled beautiful little groups of Cupids or Loves with garlands
and roses, and these ornaments were applied directly to the rosewood
frames of wardrobe or cabinet, whichever was chosen for such
embellishment. Nor was he content with such charming subjects only, for
he modelled children swinging a monkey, or monkeys swinging themselves,
or dancing a tight rope, and invested even these grotesques with style
and charm.
With the reign of Louis XV. even more sumptuous surroundings were
desired. At Fontainebleau the luxury was unparalleled, and when the
king held a reception, at which there were both cards and dancing, the
spectacle, according to records left in the copious memoirs of the
times, was one of sumptuous elegance. Four or five hundred guests
surrounded the tables where cards and cavagnole were played. Hanging
from the ceiling painted with Cupids garlanded with flowers, were many
blazing chandeliers, their brilliancy reflected a thousand times in the
tall mirrors. Everything was flooded with light,--the painted walls,
the rich gilding, the diamonds sparkling on white necks and in the hair
of the women, whose dresses gleamed with gold, silver, pearls, and
artificial flowers and fruits, all in the most gorgeous hues. The men
were almost as gay. Their hair was powdered, curled, and dressed. Their
coats of sky-blue, rose, peach, pearl or puce-colored satin, velvet,
or brocade, were embroidered with silks and gold, and ornamented with
ruffles and cravats of lace. The dress of a man, with his jewelled
sword, shoulder-knots with diamond tags, and buckles of brilliants on
shoe and knee, might have cost a small fortune. Gold and silver thread
made stiff and costly, stuffs already rich in themselves, while the
money lavished on lace had no limit.
When a princess of France married it was no uncommon thing for the
laces on her bedspreads and linens to reach the sum of $100,000.
The frills on her personal linen added $25,000 more. The ruffle on a
handkerchief was cheap at $50, and a laced nightcap might easily double
that. All this elaboration of elegance had fitting surroundings, and
the case was worthy of its contents.
[Illustration: Figure 78. CHAIRS AND TABLE OF LOUIS XVI STYLE.]
Like his predecessor, Louis XV. lavished vast sums on buildings, and
Madame de Pompadour, an uncrowned queen, spent millions more. The
Hotel d'Evreux, begun in 1718, was many years later finished under her
personal direction. She had the virtue of being a liberal patron of
the arts and an encourager of artistic merit wherever she found it. Her
taste, her sincere love for art, enabled her at least to secure works
of absolute perfection, and during the twenty years of her reign it was
mainly her fostering guidance which developed so many of the applied
arts. She not only assumed the direction of work at her chateaus and
hotels, but she encouraged the manufactory of the beautiful porcelain
of Sèvres; she assisted engravers, and essayed to learn the art
herself; and by taste, natural and acquired, she was looked upon by the
group of artists of her time as a final court of appeal in all critical
matters.
Her successors were no less extravagant, but they lacked her exquisite
and artistic judgment, which amounted almost to genius. It was during
this period of Louis XV. that the evolution of chests of drawers,
writing-tables, and cabinets--that is chests upon trestle-work--was
accomplished. The ornament changed constantly, but the form of the
articles remained much the same. The changes wrought in Paris affected
the country slowly, and provincial artists working at the period of
Louis XV. might have been using the models that had been popular in
a previous reign. In Figure 75 are depicted rosewood commodes with
curved fronts and ends, handsomely decorated with ormulu work in leaves
and scrolls. A French clock of the period, with ormolu mounts, stands
on the marble top of one, and on the other is one of black and gold
lacquer, with very choice water-gilt mounts.
In this period the names of the Caffieri, father and two sons, who
were workers in metal, became famous. They executed bronze mounts for
furniture like those on the commodes shown in Figure 75, a style
which they may be said to have created and by their genius rendered
popular. The mounting on these pieces is very simple, and takes the
subservient place that ornament always should. But in some of the
work executed by the Caffieri the wood became merely the vehicle on
which a wealth of ornament was hung. They made not only mounts for
furniture, but girandoles, branch-lights, mounts for vases and clocks,
and chandeliers--working in bronze and silver as well as in brass. This
taste for metal mounts was carried to an extreme, even pieces of richly
carved furniture being further ornamented with chiselled brass. It is
an item of interest that the monument to General Montgomery which is
placed on that side of St. Paul's Chapel, New York city, which faces
Broadway, should have been designed and executed by Caffier in Paris in
1777. The General was buried first in Quebec, and afterward removed to
New York by act of Congress.
In Figure 76 is given what is called a _garderobe_, that is wardrobe,
with a basket of flowers at the top, this and the two bunches of
flowers at the tops of the doors being in ormolu.
[Illustration: Figure 79. ENCOIGNURE, PERIOD OF LOUIS XVI.]
Even as early as the middle of the previous century there had been
imitators of the splendid lacquer-work of the Orient. By 1723 the
three Martin Brothers, Julien, Robert, and Simon-Etienne, had become
quite famous for their use of a transparent varnish, which, as "master
painters and varnishers," they had perfected in their business. They
pushed their trade, and by 1748 were under national protection, so
popular had their wares become. In 1742 they perfected a certain
green varnish which was immensely popular, and for which they had many
orders, some of them from the king himself. They never excelled as
painters, but the beauty of this famous green ground, powdered with
gold, is very charming. Very little of this famous work remains, a
few fire-screens and some splendid coaches, with some small boxes for
snuff or patches, are all that exist. But in these small pieces like
the boxes, which were considered worthy of gold and jewelled mounts, we
can see this famous work to the best advantage. There were ribbings,
stripings, waves, and flecks which gleam wonderfully through the
varnish. Sometimes there are a few flowers or a Cupid scattered on the
surface, but usually, when the green ground was employed, no decoration
was considered necessary. With the death of Robert Martin in 1765 the
skill necessary to continue this work was lost, and this charming style
of decoration dropped back merely to a trade, and "Vernis-Martin"
became hardly more than a name.
Among the other great workers of this period were Oeben, whose
marquetry in coloured woods was of extreme elegance, and Riesener, who
began to execute his beautiful pieces of furniture under Louis XV.
in what is known as his earlier style, but who finally created the
straight-legged types of Louis XVI. style with which his name became
associated. In the work which he did for Marie Antoinette at the Little
Trianon in 1777, the pure Louis XVI. style is carried out. The earlier
pieces, delivered as early as 1771, still betray the influence of a
previous period.
In Figure 77 is shown the bedroom of Marie Antoinette at the Little
Trianon. Here we see the later style set by Riesener, with the
straight carved legs, the woodwork being painted and gilded. The silk
factories at Lyons were no longer as well patronized as they had been,
and to revive interest in them new furniture was ordered for the queen,
to be upholstered in brocade, and with curtains and hangings to match.
Everything in these rooms breathes of dainty elegance,--the carvings
of the mantelpiece, the walls decorated with garlands of flowers
and Cupids, even the metal mounts, chiselled wreaths and rosettes,
were wrought with the beauty and finish of goldsmith's work. In the
small chair by the bedside is seen a style with gilt framework and
embroidered cushions, a kind of covering which was always in demand.
In 1770 two coaches were sent to Vienna for Marie Antoinette. The work
of the embroiderer was selected to embellish their interiors, and the
description of them is given by Bachaumont:
"They were two berlins, much larger than usual, but yet not so
large as those of the king. One is lined with rose velvet and the
Four Seasons are embroidered on the largest cushions, with all the
attributes of a festival. The other is lined with blue velvet, and
on the cushions of this are worked the Four Elements. There is not
a touch of painting about them, but the work of the artist is so
perfect and finished that each one is a complete work of art."
[Illustration: Figure 80. BED OF JOSEPHINE AT FONTAINEBLEAU.]
The name of the embroider was Treaumau, and so celebrated did the
beauty of these royal cushions make him that he received large orders,
the most important being one from Madam de Berri for a _vis-à-vis_. The
two berlins for Marie Antoinette were placed on exhibition before they
were sent to her, and constituted an event of the day.
The three pieces shown in Figure 78 are pure types of Louis XVI.
style. They are at the Cooper Institute, New York. The chair on the
right has its original embroidered cover, and the straight carved leg
so much in evidence. All three pieces are entirely gilt wherever the
woodwork shows. The top of the table is marble. The chair to the left
is very prettily carved with a torch and bow and arrows, according to
the conceit of the times, when everything was to be joyous and gay, all
suffering and sorrow being resolutely thrust out of sight. Rose, blue,
and gold were the colours affected, nothing sombre being allowed. The
whole life was careless and without responsibility. The letters of the
day, Saint-Beuve, Comte de Tilly, Duc de Lauzun, and Madam d'Oberkirk,
draw graphic pictures of the life of pleasure. The Duc de Lauzun says
that one of his mother's lackeys, who could read and write tolerably
well, was made his tutor.
"They gave me the most fashionable teachers besides, but M. Roche
(the tutor) was not qualified to arrange their lessons, nor to
qualify me to benefit by them. I was, moreover, like all the
children of my age and station, dressed in the handsomest clothes
to go out, and naked and dying with hunger in the house."
This was not through unkindness, but because of dissipation and
carelessness, all the time and attention being given elsewhere. Even
in the last days of the _ancien régime_ little boys had their hair
powdered and dressed in ringlets and curls. They wore a sword, carried
a chapeau under the arm, wore laces and frills, and coats with cuffs
heavy with gold lace. The small girls were their mothers in miniature.
At six one of them would present her hand for a little dandy to kiss,
her little figure would be squeezed into a stiff corset, her huge
hoop-skirt supported a skirt of brocade enwreathed with garlands of
flowers. On her head was a structure of false curls, puffs, knots, and
ribbons, held on by pins and topped with plumes; and if she was pale
they would put rouge on her face. By force of habit and instruction she
bore herself like a mature woman. Her most important instructor was the
dancing-master, her never-ending study deportment.
In the eighteenth century drawing-room women were queens. They
prescribed the law and fashion in all things. There was no situation,
however delicate, that they did not save through tact and politeness.
This was the time when first Watteau, and later Lancret and Fragonard,
painted the _Fêtes galantes_, when pretty picnics and dancing in a
woody dell were great diversions. It was an idealized life of the
brilliant world of France which early in the eighteenth century Watteau
painted. Scattered all through the land were sumptuous dwellings of the
rich, upon which fortunes were lavished. Beaus and belles alike dressed
themselves _à la Watteau_. He became the lover's poet, a painter of an
ideal pastoral which hardly existed, but to which his hand gave beauty
and value. This was one side. On the other, besides heavy taxation,
poor crops, flood, famine, and the devastation of war, there was always
the pest. This terrible contagious fever, with the smallpox, was a
scourge to the people. Hundreds fell victims to these twin plagues, for
the usual treatment was copious bleeding.
[Illustration: Figure 81. BED OF NAPOLEON AT GRAND TRIANON.]
But the court, while it might suffer at times from sickness and death,
never allowed itself to think of such things. It amused itself with
balls and masques, plays, and even with blindman's-buff.
The gardens at Versailles were always in gala dress, and at
night musicians played among the trees, and thousands of lights
sparkled among the flowers. Fifty years later they played at simplicity
too, these great ladies and elegant cavaliers, laying aside the
silks and brocades of which a surfeit had wearied them, and wearing
picturesque gowns of simple material and cut. Marie Antoinette herself
set the example in her retreat at Little Trianon, with the muslin
gown and fichu crowned with a straw hat, in which she ran across the
gardens. Beneath all this elegance, amiability, and extravagance the
Revolution seethed and boiled and finally overran and destroyed. Till
almost the very end extravagance increased, and in Figure 79 is shown
an encoignure, or corner cupboard with commode below, and cabinet
above, of the most elaborate inlaid work, with very rich ormolu
mounts. This work is by David de Luneville, and is a marvel of the
intricacy of inlaying, many different woods being used in that jumble
of ornament which forms the decoration of the door in the cabinet. At
each intersection of the lattice work inlay is a little rosette. The
divisions of the lower part have an edging of satin-wood, which in the
centre panel is made more ornate with an inlay of ebony. This piece is
at the Waring Galleries, London.
The new conditions in France wrought changes in every detail of
life. Simplicity, so called, was becoming the watchword, and once
more antique models were sought for forms and decorations. Under the
Empire the style was much less graceful, the lines coarser, and the
elaboration of ornament heavy. Could anything be less pleasing than
Josephine's bed at Fontainebleau, shown in Figure 80? It is one of the
few unsightly things in that beautiful palace, where are now gathered
so many works of art. The bedstead is covered with heavy chiselled
ornaments in brass, and surmounted by a canopy held on pillars. This
canopy is partly of carved wood and partly of embroidered satin. There
are strings of gold beads hanging from this satin, and in addition
heavy satin curtains very richly embroidered. These are edged with a
long and clumsy fringe. The whole room is in keeping with the bed, for
the floor is covered with a carpet bearing the imperial insignia all
over it, and the hangings on the walls have countless spots in lieu of
a pattern. It was at Fontainebleau that the sentence of divorce was
passed on Josephine, and it seems possible that the sleepless nights
which the poor lady endured must have been rendered more miserable by
the unlovely character of her surroundings.
It is with pleasure that one turns to Figure 81, showing the bed of
the great Emperor himself, at Grand Trianon, Versailles. It is a good
example of the best Empire work, and is mahogany ornamented with ormolu
mounts in classic style.
[Illustration: Figure 82. ROOM AT FONTAINEBLEAU, WITH HISTORIC TABLE.]
It was now the fashion to decry the furniture or costumes which had
prevailed during the latter half of the eighteenth century, and to
seek the Athenian models for gowns and furniture. Nor were these
models used in their simple shapes, but transformed into quite other
guise by the touch of French hands. Marquetry was no longer considered
good taste, and David the painter was largely responsible for much of
the theatrical effect which was noted both in costume and household
belongings. After the fall of the monarchy, sales had been held,
and what had not been destroyed had been sold. It was now necessary
to fill again the palaces that had been denuded, and Percier, the
architect, and Joseph Desmalter, the cabinet-maker, were the men
chosen to do it. Desmalter is responsible for the use of mahogany
commodes embellished with bronze and gilt like those which flank the
bed in Figure 81. After the expedition to Egypt, Sphynx figures were
introduced in bronze or brass to uphold tables and as arms for chairs.
These, however, did not become popular, and soon were replaced by
classic heads.
In Figure 82 is shown a room in Fontainebleau furnished in Empire
style. The imperial N may be seen on the corners of the console
tables and on the commode. The walls are covered with damask woven in
geometric forms, and the rooms once so light and brilliant with their
dainty arabesques and flowers, Cupids and birds on the ceilings, are
now dark and severe. The splendid chandelier of Venetian glass is
the sole reminder of a previous reign. The only piece of furniture
in the room which is absolutely plain is the small mahogany table in
the foreground. Upon this Napoleon signed his abdication. In one of
the rooms adjoining the leave-taking between Josephine and Napoleon
occurred, after which he went to St. Cloud and she to Malmaison.
The commode shows as well as anything the marked change which took
place in the styles under the Empire. The graceful curves of front and
sides are gone; the feet are stumpy, and so short that the pleasing
proportion between the parts is quite lost. The constant repetition of
the laurel-wreath on chairs, walls, mantelpieces and furniture is very
monotonous, and we miss the graceful curves of the acanthus and celery
leaves.
In Figure 83 is a mahogany reading and writing desk combined. The brass
ornaments are beautifully chiselled, and, though some are lost, enough
remain to show what a splendid piece of furniture it once was. They
partake, in their delicacy, of the metal work of the previous century,
particularly the escutcheons and the groups of flowers and musical
instruments which are on the tops of the side pillars. The desk top
lifts up, and inside there are pigeon-holes and drawers finished in
satin-wood. The hole in the rail above the doors is not a keyhole, but
in it fits a handle by which the whole upper part of the desk is raised
on an iron rod so as to suit the height of who-ever uses it. This piece
is at the Museum of the Cooper Institute. The rage for furniture in
Empire style was not confined to France alone, but crossed the channel
to England, where it became even less attractive, and was also used by
our own cabinet-makers, as has been shown in previous chapters.
The changes in the styles of French furniture, like those which took
place in England in the same century (the eighteenth), were not
any more definitely marked. One period overlapped another, certain
characteristics were retained and put to new uses, so that a perfect
style was arrived at only after years of growth.
[Illustration: Figure 83. EMPIRE READING AND WRITING DESK.]
With the name of Louis XIV. is associated the furniture of Boulle, with
its wealth of wonderful inlay. The metal mount in its most correct and
elegant form marks the period of Louis XV. The reign of Louis XVI. and
Marie Antoinette shows the change from the graceful curves of leg and
construction lines to straight lines and less generous proportions,
while the use of the metal mount is brought to the greatest extreme.
The beauty of form taken from leaf and shell, wrought in metal and
placed on the lines of fine construction which had marked the epoch of
Louis XV., ran wild under the workers in the next era, and the fancy
for overlaying with costly ornament blinded the eyes to the poor shapes
employed, which were inspired by a search among classic forms. Even
the severest form may become vulgar when overloaded with ornament, and
with the reign of Louis XV. passed the production of some of the finest
furniture ever made. What was poor under Louis XVI. became poorer yet
under the Napoleonic era, and the men employed, instead of drawing from
the choice models which still remained, still farther debased what in
previous times had risen to the dignity of high art.