Eighteenth Century French Furniture
The story of eighteenth century French furniture is the story of the rise, immense popularity and precipitous fall of the Rococo/Louis XV style. Louis XIV, the "Sun King", who reigned in the previous century, set the stage for this proliferation of sumptuous furnishings when he established the Manufacture Royale de Gobelins as a unified center for furniture and tapestry workers, drawing craftsmen from across Europe with the limitless opportunities associated with decorating the Royal Court at Versaille. During the ensuing regency of Philipe d'Orleans and the reigns of Louis XV and XVI the scene shifted from Versaille with its royal patronage to Paris and private clients who used these craftsmen to create smaller scale, more intricately decorated and playful (as opposed to imposing) furniture. By the end of the century, in post-Revolution France, there is a reaction to the frivolity of high-Rococo design and the sobriety of the Directoire style becomes dominant. What France discarded, the rest of Europe and the world adopted by copying the Rococo aesthetic in both the decorative and the fine arts after the French had moved on.The regency of Philippe D'Orleans (in power 1715 to 1723, while Louis XV was still young) followed the reign of Louis XIV (in power 1661 to 1700). What we think of today as the Regence style in France actually begins a bit earlier and continues after the actual regency. (The Regence style should also not be confused with the Regency style in England one hundred years later.) The Regence style (1700 to 1730) is a transitional style forming a bridge between the royal formality of Louis XIV's Versaille and the feminine intimacy of high Rococo. The forms of furniture remain somewhat large and blocky, but there is an emergent elegant curve to some silhouettes and the cabriole leg becomes popular. Scale diminishes as patrons begin to furnish their private boudoirs, salons and music rooms rather than the grand ballrooms of the Court. The classical restraint and heavy handedness of the previous century's design becomes more fluid and light.
Case pieces in the Regence style are generally made of oak and are frequently embellished with marquetry veneer in geometric patterns laid out somewhat symmetrically. Decorative bronze castings are applied and used functionally: to protect corners, feet and the delicate marquetry. Design elements frequently refer to gardening, hunting, music, the "game of love" and chinoiserie; earlier types of high-style French furniture would have referred more to the "Sun King" and his glory. There are scallop shells, bat-wings (a more attenuated shell-shape), and references to fantastic animals, dolphins and monkeys. Armoires remain broad, but there is a vogue for commodes and secretaires a abattants. Seating furniture is usually made from beech-wood, walnut and poplar. Chairs are smaller than before, easier to move around and with more attention to comfort than to formality.
The most highly valued Regence furniture is that which includes pictorial marquetry (Andre Charles Boulle being the acknowledged master who worked magic with tortoise-shell, bronze and ebony among other materials) and vernis Martin (a lacquering technique). The most famous cabinetmaker of the time was Charles Cressent (1685 to 1768), who was famous for his commodes with fabulous bronze mounts.
Louis XV began his reign in 1723, but the golden age of Rococo (and what is known in France as the Louis XV style) in France is considered to be 1730 to 1760. Asymmetry, fluid s-curves and c-scrolls, and the richness and diversity of materials (marble, marquetry, porcelain plaques, bronze, faux-lacquer) are all present in high-Rococo decorative arts. Whereas a piece in the first quarter of the 18th Century may have had bronze embellishments, they would have been on a form that recalled an earlier aesthetic: more squat and symmetrical. A Regence commode may have geometric marquetry and espagnolettes on the corners of its square case; a Louis XV commode may have a bombe silhouette, purely decorative bronze castings and a scattered flower motif to the marquetry: light, fanciful, feminine and frivolous. There is no such thing as "too much"!
There was a profusion of furniture forms to fit specific rooms and uses. No longer would an all-purpose table suffice: there are gaming tables and dining tables, dressing tables and writing tables. Armchairs (chaises a la reine, fauteuils, bergeres), settees, corner chairs, caned chairs to sit in while listening to music and those to dine in. All varieties were attuned to comfort, and at this point we see softer seats with upholstery springs.
Louis XV furniture is among the most highly valued at auction. Pieces signed by their makers, or those with royal provenance, bring extraordinary prices. Those that include elaborate marquetry, bronze fittings and that are in good condition are the most expensive.
All parties must end, and as the political picture in France darkened and the Revolution drew near, the sumptuousness and frivolity of the high Rococo became inappropriate and out of synch. The Louis XVI style (1760 to 1789) is again a transitional style. If one thinks of the design progression in 18th century France as a bell-curve, with the Regence climbing up to the apogee of the Louis XV/Rococo, then Louis XVI starts the descent down the other side to a more classical, restrained aesthetic. The curves might remain, but there is a diminution of ornamentation. Design motifs become more classical (the archeological digs of Herculaneum and Pompeii were just coming to light): no longer flying cupids, but architectural references from antiquity like dentil carving, egg-and-dart moldings, fretwork, beading and gadrooning. This recalls the motifs popular during the reign of Louis XIV, reflects the newly minted "Age of Reason", and better reflects the impending Revolution with its' themes of liberty and equality for the common man.
The cabriole leg is replaced on case pieces and seating furniture by a straight, tapered leg; sometimes fluted to emphasize its verticality. Frequently the leg joins the seat with a carved cube or "die".
The French Revolution lasted from 1789 to 1795 after which the "Directory" government assumed control. In the decorative arts this period (1789 to 1804) is designated as the Directoire - a further classicizing and simplifying of the Louis XVI style - we have come to the far side of the bell curve. There is an austerity to this furniture that reflects the post-Revolutionary economic reality. People are drawn to themes of civic virtue and classical references. This was not a time of great innovation, but rather of digestion.
Eighteenth century French decorative arts benefited from the unprecedented wealth and patronage of the kings and courtiers of the time. Until the end of the century the stable economic picture allowed emphasis on the finer, more cultural aspects of life, and this is reflected in the profusion of forms and exuberance of style. When the economic picture darkened and war threatened, this exuberance was quashed and a more restrained aesthetic gained dominance.
Reference note by p4A Contributing Editor Jan W. Hack.