The Art of Interior Decoration Part 9

During Louis XV's time soft cushions fitted into the sinuous lines of the furniture, and as some Frenchman has put it, "a vague, discreet perfume pervaded the whole period, in contrast to the heavier odour of the First Empire."

The walls and ceilings of the three Louis were richly decorated in accordance with a scheme, surpa.s.sing in magnificence any other period.

An intricate system of mouldings (to master which, students at the ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, must devote years) encrusted sidewalls and ceilings, forming panels and medallions, over-doors and chimney-pieces, into which were let paintings by the great masters of the time, whose subjects reflected the moods and interests of each period. The Louis XV and XVI paintings are tender and vague as to subject and the colours veiled in a greyish tone, full of sentiment.

That was the great period of tapestry weaving--Beauvais, Arras and Gobelin, and these filled panels or hung before doors.

It may be said that the period of Louis XVI profited by antiquity, but continued French traditions; it was a renaissance of line and decoration kept alive, while the First Empire was cla.s.sic form inanimate, because an abrupt innovation rather than an influence and a development. One may go farther and quote the French claim that the colour scheme of Louis XVI was intensely suggestive and personal, while the Empire colouring was literal and impersonal.

Under Louis XVI furniture was all but lost in a crowd of other articles, tapestry, draperies of velvet, flowered silks, little objects of art in porcelain, more or less useless, silver and ormoulu, exquisitely decorated with a precieuse intricacy of chiselled designs.

The Louis XVI period was rigid in its aristocratic sobriety, for although torch and arrows figured, as did love-birds, in decoration--(souvenirs of the painter Boucher), everything was set and decorous, even the arrow was often the warrior's not cupid's; in the same way the torch was that of the ancients, and when a medallion showed a pastoral subject, its frame of straight lines linked it to the period. Even if Cupid appeared, he was decorously framed or pedestaled.

To be sure, Marie Antoinette and the ladies of her court played at farming in the Park of the Pet.i.te Trainon, at Versailles; but they wore silk gowns and powdered wigs. To be rustic was the fad of the day (there was a cult for gardening in England); but shepherdesses were confined to tapestries, and, while the aristocracy held the stage, it played the game of life in gloves.

There was about the interior decoration of Louis XVI, as about the lives of aristocratic society of that time, a "penetrating perfume of love and gallantry," to which all admirers of the beautiful must ever return for refreshment and standards of beauty and grace.

Speaking generally of the three Louis one can say that on a background of a great variety of wonderful inlaid woods, ivory, sh.e.l.l, mother-of-pearl and bra.s.s, or woods painted and gilded, following the Italian Renaissance, or lacquered in the manner of the Orient, were ormoulu wrought and finely chiselled, showing Greek mythological subjects; G.o.ds, G.o.ddesses and their insignia, with garlands, wreaths, festoons, draperies, ribbons, bow-knots, rosettes and medallions of cameo, Sevres porcelain, or Wedgwood paste. Among the lost arts of that time are inlaying as done by Boule and the finish known as Vernis Martin.

PLATE XX

This large studio is a marked example of comfort and interest where the laws of appropriateness, practicableness, proportion and balance are so observed as to communicate at once a sense of restfulness.

Here the comfortable antiques and beautifully proportioned modern furniture make an ideal combination of living-room and painter's studio.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Combination of Studio and Living Room in a New York Duplex Apartment_]

Tapestries and mural paintings were framed by a marvellous system of mouldings which covered ceilings and sidewalls.

The colour scheme was such as would naturally be dictated by the general mood of artificiality in an age when dreams were lived and the ruling cla.s.ses obsessed by a pa.s.sion for amus.e.m.e.nts, invented to divert the mind from actualities. This colour scheme was beautifully light in tone and harmoniously gay, whether in tapestries, draperies and upholstery of velvets, or flowered silks, frescoes or painted furniture. It had the appearance of being intended to act as a soporific upon society, whose aim it was to ignore those jarring contrasts which lay beneath the surface of every age.

CHAPTER XX

CHARTS SHOWING HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF FURNITURE

LOUIS XIV, 1643 to {Compressed regularity {Straight, square, 1715 { giving way in { grooved and very Key-note { reaction to a { squat cabriole The Grand { ponderous ugliness. { legs.

Audience Rooms { {

THE REGENCY AND {The Reign of Woman. {Cabriole legs of a LOUIS XV, 1715 to { { perfect lightness 1774 { { and grace.

Key-note { { The Boudoir { {

{The transition style {Legs tapering { between the Bourbon { straight, rounded { Interior Decoration { and grooved. A { and that of { few square-grooved { the "Directorate" { legs and LOUIS XVI, 1774 to { and "Empire," { a few graceful, 1793 { characterised by a { slender cabriole Key-note { return to the cla.s.sic { legs.

The Salon _Intime_ { line which reflects { { a more serious turn { { of mind on part of { { the Nation in an age { { of great mental { { activity. {

{Cla.s.sic lines.

{Cla.s.sic decorations with subjects taken from { Greek mythologies.

{Winged figures, emblems of liberty; antique { heads of helmeted warriors, made like { medallions, wreaths, lyres, torches, { rosettes, etc.

{Besides the wonderful mounts of Ormoulu, { designed by the great sculptors and painters { of the period, there was a great deal { of fine bra.s.s inlaying.

{Antique vases taken from ancient tombs were THE FIRST EMPIRE, { placed in recesses in the walls of rooms NAPOLEON I, 1804 { after the style of the ancient "Columbaria."

to 1814 {Every effort was made to surround Napoleon I { with the dignity and austere sumptuousness { of a great Roman Emperor. As we have said, { he had been in Rome and he had been in Egypt; { the art of the French Empire was reminiscent { of both. Napoleon would outstrip the other { conquerors of the world.

{Some Empire furniture shows the same fine { turning which characterizes Jacobean furniture { of both oak and walnut periods. We refer to { the round, not spiral, turning. See legs of { Empire sofa on which Madame Recamier reclines { in the well-known portrait by David (Louvre).

ENGLISH FURNITURE

{Gothic, through 14th Century.

THE OAK PERIOD {Renaissance, 16th Century.

(including early {Elizabethan, 16th Century.

Jacobean) {Jacobean or Stuart, 17th Century; James I, { Charles I and II, and James II, 1603-1688.

{Late Jacobean.

THE WALNUT PERIOD {William and Mary, 1688.

{Queen Anne, 1702.

"MAHOGANY" PERIOD {Chippendale. {18th Century.

(and other imported {HEPPELWHITE. { woods), or {SHERATON { CHIPPENDALE PERIOD. {THE ADAM BROTHERS. {

{Almost no furniture exists of the 13th { Century. We get the majority of our GOTHIC PERIOD, { ideas from ill.u.s.trated ma.n.u.scripts of Through 14th Century. { that time. The furniture was carved { oak or plain oak ornamented with { iron scroll work, intended both for { strength and decoration.

RENAISSANCE OR {The characteristic, heavy, wide mouldings ELIZABETHAN, { and small panels, and heavy round 16th Century. { carving.

{Panels large and mouldings very narrow and { flat, or no mouldings at all, and flat { carving. The cla.s.sic influence shown during JACOBEAN OR { the period of the Commonwealth in designs, STUART PERIOD, { pilastars and pediments was the result of a 17th Century. { cla.s.sic reaction, all elaboration being { resented.

WALNUT PERIOD, {The Restoration brought in elaborate late 17th Century. { carving. Dutch influence is exemplified { in the fashion for inlaying imported from { Holland, as well as the tulip design.

{ Turned legs, stretchers, borders and spiral { turnings, characterized Jacobean style.

In the GOTHIC PERIOD (extending { through 14th Century), as { the delightful irregularity in { line and decoration shows, {Tables, chests, presses (wardrobes), there was NO SET TYPE; each { chairs and benches or piece was an individual creation { settles.

and showed the personality { of maker. {

During RENAISSANCE OR ELIZABETHAN { PERIOD (16th Century) {Table chests, presses, chairs, types begin to establish { benches, settles, and small and repeat themselves. { chests of drawers.

{Inlaying in ebony, ivory, { mother-of-pearl, and ebonised { oblong bosses of the jewel type { (last half of 17th Century).

In the JACOBEAN (17th Century) { The tulip design introduced there was already a set type, { from Holland as decoration.

pieces made all alike, turned {Turned and carved frames and out by the hundreds. { stretchers; caned seats and { backs to chairs, velvet cushions, { velvet satin damask and { needlework upholstery, the { seats stuffed.