History of French Furniture
2012-08-06 4:29 AM PDT
In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte had himself anointed and crowned Emperor of France. The furniture design known as Empire is a design of majestic splendour that Napoleon felt fitting to honor his magnificence. He considered himself the greatest globe ruler given that Julius Caesar. The Empire design is the last of the excellent French designs that extensively affected bedroom furniture design throughout the world. During his rule, Napoleon beat Italy and Egypt. He was overwhelmed by his conquest of these nations. He brought back to France archaeological wonders of Egypt, the long-forgotten early empire. He was proud of his conquest of Italy and Egypt and proudly considered himself as the first worthy successor to Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Furniture made in this period was implied to imitate the designs of these wonderful empires. Napoleon commissioned the greatest musician of Europe to develop architecture and ornament that would certainly correspond the splendour of Greece, the magnificence of Rome and the massiveness of Egypt.

The Empire style furniture is large, in splendid scale and very manly. It has a serious, hefty, manly look with no carving. The wood carving which is very typical in the previous styles of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI is generally replaced with wood veneers polished to a high sheen. To equalize the bareness of wood veneer, metal gilts are used to adorn the furniture. A good idea to determining the Empire style is the vulgar usage of ormolu mounts. Ormolus are gilt-metal designs typically in different attractive designs. These are usually drawn from antique sources or patriotic motivation. There are concepts derived from Egyptian archeology. Falcon, sphinxes, cobras, obelisks, winged lions are simply some of these Egyptian inspired designs. Napoleon's fascination with his conquest of Egypt and later on the excavation of ruins by the French Egyptologists produced so much interest in everything related to Egypt.

There are also concepts derived from old Greek and Roman design. Vases, lights, torches, heads of Greek gods, ram's head and cornucopias are amongst the many Greek and Roman inspired designs incorporated into the Empire design of bedroom furniture. French Patriotism expanded sturdier throughout Napoleon's regulation and it appeared in the many patriotically inspired ornaments which included laurel wreaths, eagles, swords, lances, rifles, drum and bugles. The use of legs that are shaped like animals or sphinxes is extremely typical to the Empire style. The graceful cabriole legs of the previous styles have actually been changed with the gigantic, more typically overstated and vulgar use of legs that are shaped like animals.

The following are the basic attributes of the Empire design of bedroom furniture:

1. It has hefty masculine look.

2. Wood veneers polished to high sheen are used instead of the ornate wood carving typically linked with the previous French furniture styles.

3. The excessive usage of big, typically terribly cast ormolu mounts.

4. Wood back chairs with upholstered seats. These include the barrel armchair which is a very common Empire design chair.

5. The usage of designs motivated by classical Greece.

6. Mirror-back console table. This is typically utilized by the women to inspect their no-longer floor-length hemlines.

7. The use of concepts encouraged by ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece.

8. The use of Patriotic and military concepts and the usage of notice "N", Napoleon's name initial.

In conclusion, it is pretty very easy to recognize the Empire design of furniture with its large appearance and overbearing ormolu mounts which typically illustrates Egyptian, Greek and Roman themes. This design is a action in reverse from the easy however sophisticated Louis XVI design.

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