Gawain and the Green Knight_, “Whyssynes upon quelde-poyntes” (1340
c); in the Will of Edward the Black Prince in Nichol’s _Royal Wills_,
“74 curtyns quissyns” (1361); Chaucer’s _Troylus_, “And down she sett
here by hym upon a quysshon gold y-bete” (1229); _Isumbras_, “Bryn a
chayere an a qwyschene” (1400); Wyclif, “Seetis of skynnes ethir
cuyschuns” (1388) Wyclif, _Ezek iii_, “Woo to hem that sewen tegider
cusshens” (1382); Mallory, “And there was laid a cusshyn of gold that
he should knele upon” (1470–85); and Berners, _Arth. Lyt. Bryt._,
“They set them down on cosshyns of sylke” (1530).
Footnote 6:
_Cymbeline_, Act II. Scene IV.
Footnote 7:
A heavy ribbed silk.
Footnote 8:
“Taunt him with the license of ink; if thou _thou’st_ him some thrice,
it shall not be amiss; and as many lies as will lie in thy sheet of
paper, although the sheet were big enough for the bed of Ware in
England, set ’em down.”—_Twelfth Night_, Act III, Scene II.
Footnote 9:
This name occurs as early as 1301.
LOUIS XIV. PERIOD
[Illustration: PLATE XII]
[Illustration]
LOUIS XIV. PERIOD
The culminating period of the long reign of Louis XIV. (1643–1715) was
reached at the Treaty of Nimeguen in 1678. From this time forward,
France not only dominated Europe by force of arms, but also by her taste
and achievements in art. Paris set the fashions for the whole Continent
and for the Court of Charles II. across the Channel.
The “_Roi magnifique_,” now able to indulge every fancy and whim, makes
the Palace of Versailles the symbol of the time. Although the architect
Mansart began the improvements there in 1661, it was not until 1682 that
the residence of the Court was fixed at Versailles. Then it became the
expression of pomp, pleasure and magnificence. Magnificent Versailles,
with its water-works, its statues, its groves, its gardens, its
galleries, its pictures and its furnishings, cost the King a fortune.
The furniture alone, not including either pictures or tapestries,
amounted to 13,000,000 livres.
Anxious to exhibit a magnificence unknown since the days of Rome and
Byzantium, the “Sun King” conceived the idea of entrusting the designing
and manufacture of carpets, tapestries, furniture, plate, etc., etc., to
artists of the first rank. His first plan was to gather around him a
number of talented men, to each of whom he granted apartments in the
Louvre; but he found that it would be well to subject all the various
individual works to one guiding spirit and thus to create harmony.
Therefore, in 1667, he established the “_Manufacture des Gobelins_,”
with the painter, Le Brun, at its head. This manufactory of the crown
became not only famous for the superb tapestry that bears its name, but
for cabinet work (_ébénisterie_), goldsmith work (_orfèvrerie_), etc.,
etc., and was the special pride of Louis XIV., who, according to a
contemporary:
“_Ne passe guère de semaine
Où toute sa cour il n’y mène._”
Among the famous artists and workers employed at the Gobelins, were the
_ébéniste_ André Charles Boulle, the goldsmiths Claude Ballin and
Delaunay, the painters and decorators Jean Bérain and Jean Lepautre, and
the engravers La Barre, Viaucourt, Debonnaire, and Guillaume and
Alexandre Loir. Nor must Colbert be forgotten, the great minister of
finance who aided the King in founding this important establishment. Le
Brun dominated all productions with his taste, which was that of Louis
himself,—magnificent, splendid, heroic and pompous. Here were produced
not only the furnishings for the homes of the wealthy, but those superb
gifts that Louis lavished upon the ambassadors from foreign courts.
Massive silver[10] furniture, which seems to have originated in Spain,
and to have crossed the Pyrenees with Anne of Austria, the daughter of
Philip III., became extremely popular at court and with those of Louis’s
courtiers who could afford such a luxury. When Charles II. ascended the
English throne, and brought with him from France all the styles of Louis
XIV., silver furniture was introduced into the country, some of which is
still preserved.
Doubtless the richness and beauty of these rare articles developed the
taste for carved and gilded wood. Its use was not confined to the
wealthy; in comparatively modest dwellings and hôtels the frames of the
seats, mirrors, tables, consoles, etc., were carved elaborately and
gilded. It is probably owing to this dazzling and glittering effect of
gilded wood that has caused critics to refer to the preceding style of
Louis XIII. as “sombre.” The luxury and splendours of the court
penetrated to the middle classes, who adopted all the styles of the day.
It was not long before great changes in interior decorations were
sufficiently apparent to attract the notice of contemporary writers. La
Bruyère speaks of the preceding reign when copper and pewter had not
been supplanted by silver. The enormous and monumental chimney-piece
which reached to the cornice, a typical example of which is shown in the
frontispiece, was banished for the “_petite cheminée_,” or little
chimney-piece. Mirrors now made at the Gobelin manufactory became far
more common, having been brought within the reach of many who could not
afford the hitherto unrivalled glasses made in Venice. The flags and
tiles were now superseded by floors of inlaid woods, or parquetry, and
the tapestries and embossed leather that adorned the walls in the
preceding period were gradually succeeded by painted and gilt panels.
There was a tendency everywhere for lighter hues. This taste had already
reached high expression in the Marquise de Rambouillet, who astonished
everyone with her “Blue Parlour,” which was decorated and draped in the
colour of the sky.
It must not be imagined, however, that tapestry was rejected. The
magnificent productions of the Gobelins reproducing in their bold
colours the pictures of Le Brun, Van der Meulen, and others, made superb
wall-decorations for the homes of the wealthy; and those who did not
care for the hunting-scenes, war-scenes, mythological subjects, or
allegories, could select Bérain’s fine “arabesques.” We notice, however,
some new colours that were extremely popular. These were particularly
the yellowish pink hue of dawn, called aurora, flame-colour,
flesh-colour, and amaranth, a purplish red such as occurs in the common
flowers, Love-lies-bleeding and Prince’s Feather. These colours occur
chiefly in the sumptuous brocades and damasks from Lyons, Genoa and
Flanders that were used to line the walls, for covering the seats, and
draping the great beds.
[Illustration: PLATE XIII]
The influence of Le Brun cannot be over-estimated. All the industries of
the day that had any connection with art passed into his control. For at
least twenty-five years, he regulated all the types and models, and was
the arbiter and judge of the productions. He furnished designs for
painters, sculptors, cabinet-makers, weavers, etc., etc. Let us in
confirmation of this turn to the _Mercure de France_ for 1692; “Although
I have mentioned,” says the writer, “many works, I have forgotten to
speak of those large and superb cabinets that they make at the Gobelins
from his designs and under his guidance; it would seem that all the arts
have contributed something to them. Finally, M. Le Brun is so universal
that all the arts work under him, and he even goes so far as to make
designs for the locksmith. I have seen very cultivated strangers gazing
at the locks and bolts of the doors and windows at Versailles and the
Galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre as if they were _chefs-d’œuvre_, from
whose beauty they could not tear themselves away.”
Colbert’s industrial system was founded upon the idea of useful luxury.
Everything in common use had to be beautiful, and the result was that,
although the taste was aristocratic, the result upon France was
democratic. Silk and velvet, tapestry and rugs, vases of porphyry and
porcelain, candelabra and andirons, clocks and articles of silver, rich
cabinets and _armoires_, in fact, all kinds of useful and ornamental
articles were soon to be found in middle-class houses as well as in the
homes of the wealthy. A great progress was noted in the art of the dyer;
the tapestries became brighter, with the famous Gobelin scarlet, Lyons
black, Rouen blue, Tours green, the Nîmes yellow, etc.
To appreciate the general luxury of the day, let us recall the
magnificent entertainment that Fouquet gave to Louis XIV. at the Castle
of Vaux, when “he went so far as to cause to be placed in the room of
each courtier of the King’s retinue a purse filled with gold to supply
at the play those who had not enough, or none at all;” and the still
more remarkable lottery that Cardinal Mazarin held in his palace in 1660
(the year before his death), for the benefit of the courtiers. The
prizes given on this occasion consisted of precious stones, jewels,
textiles, mirrors, tables, cabinets, and other furniture, crystal
candelabra, silverware, gloves, ribbons and fans, valued altogether at
half a million.
Again, when Louis received the Siamese Ambassador, he was seated on a
throne of silver, and his costume was so heavy with gold and jewels that
he was soon forced to remove it.
It was an age of jewels. Travellers brought home from the East many
precious stones, particularly diamonds; Tavernier, for instance, made
six voyages to India and Persia, and brought diamonds to the King.
Chardin, merchant to the King, publishes his voyage to Persia. This
contact with the East touches popular fancy, and the Persian, the Turk
and the Hindu appear in court-ballets, and their art often inspires the
art of the day, as may be noted in some of the arabesques of Jean
Bérain.
The general impression of the Louis XIV. style is that of imposing
majesty,—a style that is more appropriate to ceremonial rooms than to
familiar living. It is an age of carved and gilded furniture; the period
indeed has been called “the triumph of gilded wood.” The carving,
however, is entrusted to sculptors who seem to find inspiration in the
work of the goldsmiths, for the complicated ornamentation that appears
on the frames of chairs sofas, consoles, tables, etc., etc., suggests
the chiselling of metal. Dead gold and burnished gold are both used, and
the profusion of scrolls, leafy boughs, guilloches, heavy foliage,
lozenge-shaped imbrications embossed with flowers in high relief, shells
and flowers in high relief, arranged as festoons, garlands, bouquets,
and sheaves, not to speak of the acanthus, the mascaron and the
cartouche, produce an appearance of luxury and brilliancy that was
unknown until the days of Louis XIV.
In the reign of Louis XIV., it was generally understood that every piece
of decorative work should consist of a combination of the straight line
and the curve. A series of bars interlaced, or ending with scrolls, is a
distinguishing characteristic of this period. This combination is found
not only in the forms of the furniture, but in the inlays of wood and
brass and upon the walls of rooms, both painted and carved.
A feeling of stoutness and width characterizes the mouldings, the
hollows of which never refuse to admit light, and these architectural
mouldings are usually rich in classic ornaments (palm-leaves, ovolos,
etc.). Sometimes the mouldings are replaced by a torus enriched with
imbricated laurel-leaves.
The bases and supports of the furniture rest broadly and firmly on the
ground. There are broad surfaces and few projections of detailed
ornamentation that would cast shadows; the colours are bold and
brilliant, the cornices resemble Roman capitals, the straining-rails
are, as a rule, heavy and rectangular in section, and, with the
exception of _armoires_ and beds, the furniture is not high above the
floor. Tables are supported by pilasters, or massive columns.
The characteristic ornamentation of the first period of the Louis XIV.
style, which was dominated by Lepautre, is Roman or heroic. The motives
are, for the most part, such as would appeal to a warrior or hero. We
find trophies of antiquity where the cuirass, surmounted by a helmet, is
accompanied by swords, and even by the lictor’s fasces, and sometimes
they are heaped up in a mass, suggesting the spoils of war,—such as
cuirasses, casques with plumes, shields, fasces, laurel wreaths and
clubs. The winged Victory is also omnipresent, and Victories blowing
trumpets are used. We also find allegorical figures, mythological
divinities, river-gods resting on their urns, great cornucopias much
heavier and with wider openings than those of Louis XIII., and heavy
garlands, or swags, of fruits and leaves, having much longer and fuller
leaves than the Louis XIII. style, and these trails of foliage
frequently display a wealth of ample scrolls. The acanthus leaf, which
is so popular, becomes very broad, even bloated, and all the other
leaves in use are now strong and powerful. The mascaron, typical
examples of which are seen on Plate XIV., Nos. 1, 2, and 3, the
_fleur-de-lis_, the double L (the King’s cypher) represented on Plate
XVI., Nos. 2 and 4, complete, with the cartouche, the characteristic
ornamentation. Upon the latter are displayed the coats-of-arms, the
_fleur-de-lis_ and the double L, as represented on the plate just
referred to. The cartouche has a strongly rounded and projecting field,
and its form is either circular or oval,—a real ellipse (quite different
from the egg-shaped oval of Louis XVI.). There is another peculiar
decoration, consisting of a strange combination of the scroll and shell;
the anthemion,[11] treated as a shell (see Plate XV., central ornament
on No. 2) and the scroll mingled with the foliage of the acanthus.
The second period of the _style Louis Quatorze_ is especially
characterized by Bérain, and is nothing more than an attenuated Louis
XIV., which forms a quite natural transition to the style of the
Regency.
The swelling curves and the heavy masses of decoration gradually become
finer, more delicate and more refined, until at length they merge into
the succeeding period.
Another characteristic taste of the day was for the Chinese style. One
of the Trianon palaces exhibited in high degree this taste for _la
chinoiserie_ in decoration. It was called the _palais de porcelaine_.
Four of its small pavilions were ornamented with plaques of _faïence_ in
imitation of porcelain. The interior was painted also in porcelain. The
walls were covered with mirrors and the furniture was extremely
sumptuous. The flowers and shrubs were planted in handsome porcelain
pots.
One of the distinctive styles of furniture at this period is that made
by André Charles Boulle (also written Boule and Bühl). He was the son of
Jean and the nephew of Pierre Boulle, both of whom were “_menuisiers du
roi_” and lived in the Louvre. Our Boulle, born in 1642, also lived in
the Louvre from 1672 until his death in 1732, and when Louis XIV.
established his manufactory at the Gobelins he was made “_ébéniste,
ciseleur, et marqueteur ordinaire du Roi_.”
Boulle’s furniture is exclusively _de luxe_, or _apparat_, and only
harmonizes with rich surroundings. It consists almost exclusively of
consoles, _armoires_, commodes, cabinets, tables, desks and clock
cases,—forms that present large surfaces for the decoration that he
carried to such perfection. His designs are very heavy. Occasionally
they take the curved, or _bombé_ forms. This swelling curve is
especially found in the _commodes tombeaux_ (tomb-commodes) and
_commodes à panse_ (paunch chests).
Boulle’s furniture was an excuse for decoration, which was carried so
far that even the joinings of the panels were lost beneath the clever
designs of foliage, flower, or scroll. Many pieces still exist that were
merely intended for show (_apparat_). Yet nothing could be richer than
Boulle’s work, with its marquetry of exotic woods, its incrustations of
tortoise-shell, its threads of copper or pewter beautifully engraved,
its scarlet lines and its splendid gilt mascarons, handles, and
bas-reliefs that form a sort of frame for the beautiful marquetry-work.
Particularly handsome are the console-tables, upon whose marble slabs
should stand rich vases of goldsmith work, jasper or porphyry, perhaps,
with gilt mouldings and garlands; and, when these are reflected back by
numerous mirrors, the effect is dazzling.
“No one would refuse to admit,” says Havard, “that the architecture is
the least remarkable part of the creations of this celebrated artist.
His great merit independently of the perfection of the work of his
_ébénisterie_, must be sought elsewhere. Boulle is a colourist in his
art more than a designer. The contours of his furniture are often heavy,
and he added nothing new. You may find all the elements in the immense
work of Le Brun, the great master of decorative art under Louis XIV. The
superiority and the originality of this cabinet-maker consists in the
admirable combination of the bronze and the copper with the background
of the furniture which he understood how to vary infinitely by the
multiplicity of incrustations and mosaics upon the groundwork of oak and
chestnut. This was his palette, from which he drew his surprising
effects and on which he played with his consummate virtuosity; it is to
this that he owes his legitimate renown, greater even in England that it
is in France.”
Boulle’s furniture is now highly prized by collectors and brings
enormous prices. In 1882, two large _armoires_ by Boulle from the Duke
of Hamilton’s collection fetched £12,075 at Christie’s in London. In the
famous Jones collection at South Kensington there is an _armoire_
specially noted for its beautiful decoration. Mr. Jones bought it from a
house in Carlton Terrace, London, for a small sum many years ago, and it
is now valued at £10,000. It is supposed to have been designed by Bérain
and made by Boulle for Louis XIV.
In looking over the French inventories of Louis XIV.’s time, we
frequently come across the description of a bed that belongs to an
earlier period. It is not surprising that these old beds, with their
magnificent hangings that are sometimes described as much faded, or as
lacking some of their decorations, should have been valued and
bequeathed from generation to generation. In some of the castles,
therefore, the beds were historic. Sometimes they had special names by
which they were known. For instance, among the valuable beds owned by
the Crown was a bed mi-party of embroidered violet velvet and cloth of
gold that was known as “_lit d’Angleterre_,” because the arms of England
were embroidered in the centre of the headboard with the device “_Honi
soit qui mal y pense_.” Another bed was anciently called the “_lit des
satyres_,” because upon its draperies were depicted Diana and her nymphs
and satyrs. Another was known as the “_lit de Melusine_,” because that
serpent-princess was represented on the headboard as bathing in a
fountain. Such beds, belonging to a former age, were frequently to be
met with in luxurious and ancient dwellings; yet we cannot associate
them with the days of Louis XIV. Nor was the _lit en housse_ abandoned.
It is indeed quite frequently found. Even as late as 1708, M. de Leger’s
chamber contains a _lit en housse_ (3½ feet wide and 6 feet long) of
violet and white damask trimmed with a mixed silk fringe. The four
folding-stools in this room were covered with the same. On Plate XV.
(No. 1) a transitional bed is shown; this forms a link between the _lit
en housse_ of the Louis XIII. period and the _lit d’ange_ of the Louis
XIV. period. The latter, also represented on Plate XV., is the
characteristic bed of this age, and is the model to be kept in view when
reading the descriptions of the beds in the following pages, and the
model that should be imitated when arranging a bedroom of this period.
[Illustration: PLATE XIV]
The position of the bed is always “_vu de pied_,”—standing out in the
room.
According to the _Dictionnaire de Trévoux_, a _lit d’ange_ was a bed
without pillars or posts, and whose curtains were looped back. To add to
this, other authorities say that the _ciel_, or canopy, while being the
same width as the bed, must not be as long. If it covers the entire bed,
then it is a _lit à la duchesse_, and if it lacks a carved or decorative
cornice, then it becomes simply a _lit à pavillon_. Finally, according
to Havard, the true difference between a _lit d’ange_ and a “_lit vu de
pieds_” of to-day is not to be determined by the dimensions of the
canopy, nor by the arrangement of the curtains or lambrequins, which are
the same, but that the foot of the bed is not simply covered by a long
_courtepointe_, or counterpane, but should have the squares of drapery
(_cantonnières_), hanging from the mattress repeating the form and
trimmings of the upper valance and rest of the bed furniture.
An early _lit d’ange_ recorded occurs in Cardinal Mazarin’s inventory,
dated 1653, and is described as a _lit d’ange_ of China gauze on a
background of flame-coloured silk, with flowers and syrens in gold. The
counterpane and six curtains were of this rich material adorned with
gold fringe. The _lit d’ange_ continued in fashion for about a hundred
years. It became as popular as the _lit en housse_ had been; and, if we
may believe _Des mots à la mode_, one of the merits of a courtier in
1692 was to “_juger en dernier ressort du grand art de retrousser les
rideaux d’un lit d’ange_.”
The _lit d’ange_ was sometimes as high as 12 feet; but it was generally
11 feet high, 6 feet wide, and nearly 7 feet long. Single beds were
about 6 feet long, 6 feet high, and 3 feet wide. They were evidently
comfortable, as the average number of mattresses was three, besides a
feather-bed, and the bolster was frequently of down. Pillows never seem
to have been used on the bed at all. For instance, the furnishings of
Madame de Maintenon’s bed were: two woollen mattresses covered with
fustian, one feather-bed, one hair-bolster; and, in addition to the
sheets, she had a red blanket, a Marseilles quilt, and a wadded white
satin quilt, the reverse being of white taffeta. Over the white
Marseilles quilt, the crimson damask counterpane was smoothly drawn, and
the valance neatly adjusted. Mademoiselle d’Aumale’s bed had three
mattresses and a feather-bed and a feather-bolster. She had two white
woollen blankets and a white Marseilles quilt.
The various pieces of the bed were valances (upper and lower),
_cantonnières_ (for definition, see note on page 85), straight curtains
called _bonnes grâces_, outside curtains, headboard, canopy, posts, and
_pommes_, or knobs. The four-post bedstead has nearly become extinct,
and now the beds have but two posts only at the head. These are almost
invariably covered with a kind of sheath, or case, made of brocade,
silk, or velvet, matching, or contrasting with, the curtains. Taffeta is
a favourite material for lining the curtains, and almost every bed is
decorated with some kind of braid and fringe, usually gold, or gold and
silver mixed. In addition to the beds described in the preceding pages,
we may note here other typical beds that would serve as suggestions for
the designer of to-day. One is a bed of reddish brown velvet,
embroidered with gold, and trimmed with a gold braid and fringe; the
valances, headboard, posts, and canopy were of this material, while the
three curtains were of a gold, silver, and violet brocade lined with red
taffeta. Another was of green and white muslin, trimmed with a woollen
braid and fringe of green and white; a third, is a pavilion bed of red
and white muslin, trimmed with red and white fringe; and a fourth, a
“_lit en dome_” of striped gauze, the stripes being gold, silver, and
flame-colour. The ornamental fringe was a narrow one of gold and silver.
The draperies were arranged in seven festoons. The counterpane was also
of this striped gauze.