to figured and embroidered satin, the designs representing birds, vases
full of flowers, Cupids, quivers smothered with garlands of flowers, a
bouquet held by a bunch of ribbon, and, finally, stripes. The tones were
light: two colours, one of which in two or three shades, were often
employed, the favourites being pale blue, rose, yellow, lilac and grey.
The manufactories of the Gobelins, of Beauvais and Aubusson produced the
same designs and pictures in their tapestries which were in great vogue
for chairs and sofas. Garlands, shepherds and shepherdesses, subjects
from Boucher and Fragonard and trophies were reproduced most exquisitely
upon light backgrounds. Persian, Chinese and Polish subjects witness how
the decorators tried to study the designs of foreign and Oriental
countries. The stamped velvets of Utrecht had smaller patterns and very
frequently were striped. Braids were of innumerable varieties, and
tassels and ball-fringe were universally used for trimmings. Arm-chairs
were ornamented also with festoons of drapery, and were called
_fauteuils à la polonaise_, _à la turque_, _à la chinoise_, and in all
probability matched the beds and sofas of these names. Radel, De
Lalonde, Salembier, and others give many designs of the draped
arm-chair. Typical chairs are represented on Plates XLVI. and XLVIII.
The arm-chairs on Plate XLVI. are by De Lalonde. Nos. 2 and 3 are
drawings of the same chair, No. 2, showing the correct projection of the
cushion of the back, which was a subject of so much study. No. 5 is a
“_voyelle_,” also by De Lalonde. The plan of its seat appears as No. 4.
No. 2 on Plate XLVIII. is an arm-chair of walnut and gold. The
arm-chairs for the desk were made of mahogany, or painted wood. They
were of the gondola form, and were supplied with cushions for the back
and seat, which were not unfrequently of cane. The third foot placed
directly in front now seems to have been given up. The _fauteuil
bergère_ still belongs to the drawing-room, but its lines are straighter
than its parent (see Plate XXXVI., No. 1), and the elbow is more
aggressive. A typical Louis XVI. _fauteuil bergère_ is shown in No. 3 on
Plate XLVIII. This is also called _fauteuil confessional_. In this reign
the cushions of seat and back are often stuffed with hair instead of
feathers, and tufted. Like the specimen on Plate XXXVI., this _fauteuil
bergère_ is often supplied with a separate cushion for the seat, covered
like the rest of the chair.
Another typical chair was the “_voyeuse_,” the back of which was shaped
like a lyre, and reached from the seat to the top rail. The latter was
stuffed. Men sat astride the seat, and rested their arms upon the rail.
This chair was generally in the card-room.
The dining-room chairs usually had cane backs and seats, or rush. The
frames of oak or ebony followed the forms of the dining-room chair, or
had turned bars or carved splats. Mahogany was also used, and often the
frames were painted. As a rule, the chairs were furnished with removable
cushions, but sometimes they were covered with velvet or leather.
The form of the sofa, or _canapé_, was similar to that of the chair, as
will be noticed by an examination of Plate XLV. Sofas were of the
gondola, basket, or medallion form, and were slightly lower and deeper
of seat than those of the former reign. Sometimes they had high wings or
cheeks at the ends, something after the shape of No. 3, on Plate
XLVIII., which gave them a cosy, comfortable appearance. A typical
_canapé_ is represented on Plate XLVI. The frame is of carved and gilded
wood, and it is covered with tapestry in the style of Boucher. The
central medallion represents a pastoral subject,—a child with a dog,
cock, and birdcage with a border of roses and daisies, and on either
side are two trophies of musical instruments. The seat is similarly
covered. The sofa, No. 7, on the same plate, is one of De Lalonde’s.
This has a good deal of metal work, and the familiar _patera_ that is
placed at the head of the leg, and, in fact, wherever the wood is
joined. This “sopha” has four front legs. Like the model below there is
an open space under the arm. The omission of the cushion stamps it of a
later date.
The little rounded and low sofa was often called an ottoman; but this
name is also applied to large pieces. For instance, No. 2, on Plate
XLIV., is called “_Ottoman à la reine_.” This is by Ranson, who is also
responsible for the sofa above it. The latter permits the square pillow
as well as the round bolster. The varieties of the draped sofa, known
variously as _lit de repos_, _chaise longue_, _duchesse_, _bergère_, _à
la turque_, _à la polonaise_, _à la chinoise_, etc., are too numerous to
mention, and merge into the bed. It is hard to tell even from the
contemporary drawings what is a sofa and what is a bed, as both appear
with and without canopies. For example, No. 6, on Plate XLVI., is called
“sofa bed _à l’antique_.” The frame is of plain mahogany, and the
drapery is arranged in scant festoons. This piece is very close in
feeling to the Empire sofas, and the scroll end sofas of the early
Nineteenth Century that exactly follow the outline produced by the bird,
cushion and roll of No. 6. The _duchesse_ is still composed of the
_fauteuil_ and _tabouret_. Sometimes it is made in three instead of two
divisions.
The apartments of the Princesse de Lamballe consisted of an
ante-chamber, a dining-room, a dressing-room, a billiard-room, a bedroom
and a boudoir. They display the Louis XVI. furniture in full flower
(1785). Some idea of the height of the rooms can, of course, be gained
from the length of the curtains.
The ante-chamber contained twelve square chairs covered with yellow
_bazanne_,[20] the frames painted white; a six-leaved screen covered
with red cloth, 6 feet high; and a sofa-bed.
The dining-room was furnished with twenty chairs, three screens and a
commode. The curtains, 14 feet, 6 inches high, were of heavy crimson
silk trimmed with gold braid. The woodwork of the chairs was painted
yellow, and they were covered with crimson _panne_ velvet fastened by
gilt nails on a gold braid. Two of the screens had six leaves and were 6
feet high. One was covered with crimson _panne_ fastened by gilt nails
on a gold braid; the other with crimson silk velvet, fluted and nailed
similarly. The third screen was covered with crimson damask; its frame
was carved and gilt. The commode was _à la Régence_, 4 feet long, of
veneered wood with a marble slab on top, and two long drawers with
lock-plates, rosette handles, chutes and shoes of copper gilt. The room
was lighted by a splendid lustre of Bohemian crystal, with eight gilded
branches (2 feet, 7 inches high and 2 feet wide); and a pair of arms,
each with three _rocaille_ branches (22 inches high and 15 inches wide).
The heat was supplied by a grate.
The drawing-room was hung with green and white damask. It had a frieze
of carved wood, partly gilt and partly painted white. Two large square
arm-chairs, eighteen square chairs of gilded wood, four _voyeuses_, and
two little chairs were covered with the same green and white damask as
the hangings. The framework was carved and painted white. There were
also twenty-four mahogany chairs with lyre backs, the seats of which
were covered with green leather fastened by gilt-headed nails that
touched one another. The window-curtains, of two lengths each (9 feet, 8
inches long), were of heavy green silk, trimmed with silk braid. A rich
carpet covered the floor. The light was obtained by means of a Bohemian
crystal lustre, over 3 feet high, with six silver branches and three
pairs of sconce-arms. The fire-place was highly ornamental, and the
tongs and shovel had gilded knobs.
The billiard-room was hung with green damask, and the curtains were of
heavy green silk. Here were twelve chairs and four _voyeuses_, and a
_banquette_ covered with green Utrecht velvet, fastened with gilt-headed
nails. The framework of these seats was painted white. There were also
several stools and benches covered with green morocco.
The bedroom had a _moquette_ carpet (14 feet, 6 inches by 25 feet) of a
white background on which were ovals of green, upon which flowers tied
with ribbons were represented. A very ornamental grate furnished the
heat.
The boudoir reflected the taste of the age. The hangings and furniture
coverings were of heavy silk with a white background, on which a lozenge
design was represented, as well as bouquets of flowers tied with blue
ribbons framed in a kind of trellis-like border. The frames of the
furniture were carved and gilt. The seats consisted of a settee, with a
square cushion, two pillows and two round bolsters; six square
arm-chairs, a _bergère_ with a square cushion, and a screen. The niche
(6 feet wide and 9 feet, 9 inches high) was hung with the same material
as the rest of the boudoir, and was lined with white silk. The
window-curtains matched the alcove and bed draperies. There was a
handsome lustre of rock-crystal with eight branches of copper gilt, a
screen of crimson damask with a beech frame; an “_ottoman en gondole_”
painted white, covered with crimson damask, fastened with gold nails to
the frame, and equipped with a square hair pillow and two feather
pillows with tassels; seven crimson damask arm-chairs and a walnut
writing-table with drawer.
The apartments of Mlle. Guimard, the actress, in 1786, give excellent
hints for furnishings of this period. In the ante-chamber, on the ground
floor, were twelve chairs covered with green _moquette_, two buffets, a
fountain with a filter, a stove, a wooden coffer and figures in the
niches.
In the dining-room, there were three tables for ten, fifteen, and thirty
covers. The eighteen chairs were upholstered in green and white Utrecht
velvet.
The greenhouse contained five _banquettes_, or forms, covered with green
Utrecht velvet, and three girandoles carried by plaster figures standing
on white marble pedestals.
In the passage to the boudoir was a _banquette_ covered with “Pekin.”
The boudoir was furnished with two settees, two _bergères_, and two
chairs covered with tapestry; and a desk stood in a counterfeit doorway.
The window-curtains were of green taffeta, and a carpet covered the
floor. In the bedroom, two large pictures took the place of hangings. A
sofa-bed stood in the niche, draped with crimson and white Genoa velvet.
The niche was hung with the same material. Two sofas, six square-backed
arm-chairs, and a two-leaved screen and two _banquettes_ were covered
similarly, but the four _cabriolets_ were upholstered in brocade.
Another screen was covered with tapestry. There were also a foot carpet,
an open fire-place with rich hearth furniture, pictures, and two
lily-shaped girandoles of copper gilt, _or moulu_. A _moquette_ portière
screened the passage to the _garde-robe_. The “Baths” occupied three
rooms. The bath-room and its niche were hung with Persian; the window
curtains were white, and here stood a _canapé_ and four _cabriolets_.
The cabinet next to the bath contained a settee, four _cabriolets_, and
two window-curtains, all in “painted Pekin.” The furnishings of the
fireplace were gilt _or moulu_. The dressing-room was hung in damask
paper, and its six _cabriolets_ were upholstered with crimson and white
velvet.
Mlle. Grimard’s suite upstairs consisted of antechamber, dining-room,
drawing-room, dressing-room, bedroom, writing-room, and _garde-robe_.
The ante-chamber was furnished with six cane chairs and a faïence
fountain. The dining-room seats, covered with blue and white velvet,
comprised six chairs and two arm-chairs.
The _salon_, or drawing-room, contained five tables: one stood in each
corner and one in the centre. There were six square arm-chairs, four
chairs, and a settee of green and white damask, and the one _tabouret_
was covered with tapestry. The walls were hung with watered silk, and
the curtains were green taffeta. The dressing-room contained four
arm-chairs, and four chairs covered in blue and white damask; and the
window-curtains were of blue taffeta. The arm-chair used at the toilette
was upholstered in leather. The chimney-piece was “_à la Prussienne_,”
and the hearth furniture was gilt _or moulu_. The bedroom was lighted by
two windows, which were hung with curtains of green taffeta. The _lit en
niche_ and the alcove draperies were of Indian dimity. The four
arm-chairs and four chairs were covered with _toile de Jouy_. (See page
264.) The fireplace furnishings were gilt _or moulu_. In the
writing-room, the two curtains were of green taffeta; and the desk
arm-chair was covered with green velvet. Two china corner-cupboards
stood in the _garde-robe_.
The _Cabinet des Modes_ from 1786 to 1790 gives many examples of
furniture and interior decorations that are excellent records of the
taste of the last years of the Louis XVI. style. The volume for 1786
gives designs for a clock and candelabra; bed in the form of a pulpit,
front and side view, _lit de repos_, or _causeuse_, arm-chairs “in the
latest fashion,” _bergères_, _chaise à chapeau_ and _chaise à resaut_,
“temple _flambeaux_ and _cassolettes_ for the decoration of a
mantel-piece,” bed “_à la Turque_,” and decoration for a boudoir.
[Illustration: PLATE XLVIII]
A _lit à la Polonaise_, a decoration for a bedroom with alcove with
columns, cabinet clock, sofa with three backs, or “_sofa pommier_,”
large arm-chair for a drawing-room, two _voyeuses_ for a card room, and
a chair appear in the second volumes. The third contains mantel-pieces,
girandoles, clocks, a cylinder desk, a console, and the decoration for a
_salon_. Another decoration for a _salon_ appears in the volume for
1789, also a clock, girandoles, a Chinese lantern, _pots pourris_, or
perfume-burners, a sofa of three divisions, a _fauteuil à chapeau et à
colonnes_, a hearth and a settee. The volume for 1790 leads directly
into the Directoire style, as the plates for the “_lit à la
fédération_,” “new arm-chairs of antique form,” “antique arm-chair,”
“Etruscan chair,” candelabra, and “_salon nouveau_” plainly show. Most
of these designs are by Charpentier.
-----
Footnote 19:
Copy of the Little Trianon built by Gustavus III., of Sweden, in his
park at Haga near Stockholm.
Footnote 20:
A kind of dimity.
THE ADAM PERIOD
[Illustration: PLATE XLIX]
[Illustration]
THE ADAM PERIOD
Reaction from the rococo style doubtless marched with the same gradual
and certain steps in England as in France. The Louis XVI. style crossed
the channel and brought with it all its bitter contempt for “rock and
shell,” its passion for the straight line, and its love for mortuary
urns and arabesque ornamentation. In English decorative art, this style
is known as “Adam.”
Although Robert and James Adam had great influence in creating and
strengthening the “taste for the antique,” they were not the only ones
who made war upon the rococo, Gothic and Chinese. One of these was
George Richardson, who, like Adam, travelled in Italy. He published _A
Book of Ceilings composed in the style of the Antique Grotesque_, in
1776; _A New Collection of Chimney-Pieces in the style of the Etruscan,
Greek and Roman Architecture_, in 1781; and _A Series of Original
Designs for Country Seats or Villas, containing Plans, Elevations,
Sections of Principal Apartments, Ceilings, Chimney Pieces, Capitals of
Columns, Ornaments for Friezes, and Other Interior Decorations in the
Antique Style_, in 1795.
Placido Columbani published _A New Book of Ornaments_, in 1775; and _A
Variety of Capitals, Friezes, Cornices and Chimney-pieces_, in 1776.
These are designs for the interior decoration of rooms, chiefly of
panels to be made in wood, or stucco, or painting.
John Crunden was another. He issued _Designs for Ceilings_, in 1765;
_Convenient and Ornamental Architecture_, in 1768; _The Joiner and
Cabinet-Maker’s Darling_, in 1770; and, with Thomas Milton and Placido
Columbani, _The Chimney-Piece Maker’s Daily Assistant_, or a _Treasury
of New Designs for Chimney-Pieces_.
N. Wallis published, in 1771, _A Book of Ornaments in the Palmyrene
Taste_, which was followed by _The Carpenter’s Treasure_ and _The
Complete Modern Joiner_, which contain designs for ceilings, panels,
pateras, mouldings, chimney-pieces, door-cases, friezes, tablets for the
centre ornaments, chimney-pieces, and door-cases and ornaments for
pilasters, bases and sub-bases. The greater number were of allegorical
subjects. Wallis was fond of the “Raffle” leaf (indented foliage, such
as the acanthus). J. Carter was another designer in the Adam taste. His
ceilings greatly resembled Richardson’s. The latter describes one of his
own chimney-pieces as follows: “The plain ground round the pilasters and
architrave may be of jasper, or antique green; and the ornaments of the
frieze and pilasters might be done of _scagliola_,[21] and should be
executed in wood; the ornaments will produce a fine effect if painted in
the Etruscan manner—in various colours.” A _Triumph of Venus_ is a
tablet of another chimney-piece, “suitable for an elegant gallery or
Drawing-room. She is sitting in a shell drawn by Dolphins guided by
Cupid, in the air and accompanied by a Triton blowing his shell trumpet,
and holding Neptune’s trident. The plain ground round the pilasters with
termes may be of variegated colours, but all the rest should be of plain
white marble.” Of the ceiling for a dressing-room he says: “The oval
picture represents Diana bathing attended by her Nymphs. The small
circles contain figures representing hunting-pieces and sacrifices,
which may be painted in _chiaro-oscuro_, or executed in stucco in the
manner of antique bas-reliefs.” A chimney-piece, suitable for a Parlour
or Dining-room, is thus described: “The ornaments of the frieze may be
of white marble, laid on dark grounds. If the cornice, with the frieze
and back pilasters, be carved in wood, the moldings of the architraves
in marble, might be quite plain.”
It will therefore be seen that the “Adam style” was a fashion. Taste was
running its natural course and the reaction to the antique, from the
curve in favour of the straight line, had set in.
The social position of the Adam brothers helped them greatly in towering
above the other English designers and decorative artists of the day.
Their father, William Adam, was an architect of reputation in Scotland;
and sent his second son, Robert, to the University of Edinburgh, where
he formed important friendships. In 1754, he went to Italy with a French
architect and made a careful study of the ruins of the Emperor
Diocletian’s palace at Spalatro in Dalmatia. He was made F.R.S. and
F.S.A. while abroad; and, on his return to England, in 1762, become
royal architect. His brother James was closely identified with him in
all his work. The nobility and gentry not only patronized them, but
received them socially; and when Robert died in 1792, and was buried in
Westminster Abbey, the state of his funeral and the high rank of the
persons who attended and officiated, prove the regard in which he was
held. Adam, therefore, is of a very different class from Chippendale,
Heppelwhite and Sheraton; and, although he designed much furniture to
accord with the rooms that he altered and decorated, he never made any.
The Adam brothers were purely designers: they employed special artists
to work for them. These were Angelica Kauffman, and her husband, Antonio
Zucchi, and Cipriani; also Pergolesi, whom they brought from Italy, and
who Mr. Heaton says “beyond doubt was the unacknowledged author of most
of the beautiful details of Adam’s book.”
Among their most important works that include interior decoration were:
Sion House, the Duke of Northumberland’s seat in Middlesex; Kenwood,
Lord Mansfield’s house near Hampstead; Osterley House, near Brentford;
Shelburne (now Lansdowne) House, Berkeley Square, London; Keddlestone,
Derbyshire; Luton House, Bedfordshire; and Compton Verney, Warwickshire.
[Illustration: PLATE L]
“Whatever were the architectural defects of their works, the brothers
formed a style, which was marked by a fine sense of proportion, and a
very elegant taste in the selection and disposition of niches, lunettes,
reliefs, festoons, and other classical ornaments. It was their custom to
design furniture in character with their apartments, and their works of
this kind are still highly prized. Amongst them may be specially
mentioned their sideboards with elegant urn-shaped knife-boxes, but they
also designed bookcases and commodes, brackets and pedestals,
clock-cases and candelabra, mirror-frames and console tables of singular
and original merit, adapting classical forms to modern uses with a
success unrivalled by any other designer of furniture in England. They
designed also carriages and plate, and a sedan-chair for Queen
Charlotte. Of their decorative work generally it may be said that it was
rich but neat, refined but not effeminate, chaste but not severe, and
that it will probably have quite as lasting and beneficial effect upon
English taste as their architectural structures.”[22]
Like Chippendale, they claimed more originality than they were entitled
to when they wrote in their preface:
“We have not trod in the path of others, nor derived aid from their
labours. In the books which we have had the honour to execute we have
not only met with the approbation of our employers, but even with the
imitation of other artists, to such a degree, as in some measure to have
brought about in this country, a kind of revolution in the whole system
of this useful and elegant art. These circumstances induced us to hope
that to collect and engrave our works would afford both entertainment
and instruction.”
They paid much attention to colour, and remark:
“We have thought it proper to colour with the tints used in the
execution, a few copies of each number, not only that posterity might be
enabled to judge with more accuracy concerning the taste of the present
age, and that foreign connoisseurs might have it in their power to
indulge their curiosity with respect to our national style of ornament;
but that the public in general might have an opportunity of cultivating
the beautiful art of decoration hitherto so little understood in most of
the countries of Europe.”
The Adams tell us they intended to prefix to their book a dissertation
regarding the rise and progress of architecture in Great Britain, “to
have pointed out the various stages of its improvements from the time
that our ancestors relinquishing the Gothic style, began to aim at an
imitation of the Grecian manner, until it attained that degree of
perfection at which it has now arrived.”
Thus the Gothic had no more admiration from the Adams than it had when
Evelyn denounced it.
It is interesting to let them exhibit their own taste and rating of
British architects.