13: Western European Furniture of Neoclassicism, Historicism and Art Nouveau

The second half of the 18th century was marked by the rise of the Neo-Classical style in Europe. This was reflected in the shapes of furniture. Convex and concave surfaces became a thing of the past. All joints were made at right-angles. In this period furniture made in England acquires particular interest. Special albums of furniture designs were published in that country. Thomas Sheraton's Drawing Book was the source for the shape of chairs with an oval pierced back with a three-part plume. Furniture was painted more often than it was gilded. Marquetry compositions on cupboards and chest of drawers depicted ancient ruins, while the ornament consisted of garlands, strings of bead-and-reel and rosettes. The culminating stage of Neo-Classicism was the Empire style. Furniture in that style is as a rule more majestic and features a selection of ornament characteristic of the early 19th century. A large number of console tables were produced with supports in the forms of caryatids in Egyptian headdresses. In the second quarter a fashion arose for things imitating the styles of earlier ages. Furniture-makers used elements of the Rococo, Classicism and the Renaissance, but in varying combinations they produce superb examples of the era of Historicism. Old techniques were used to decorate such furniture. The Boulle technique was particularly popular. Fairly quickly such a diversity of styles gave way to a tendency in furniture that in Russia became known as the Moderne. Designers used sinuous flowing lines borrowed from nature as a basis for their constructions. Iris, lotus and chrysanthemum blooms were incorporated into leather and velvet upholstery; they were also used in marquetry ornament of tabletops.