Louis XV furniture

The Louis XV style showed the influences of Neo-classicism, based on recent archaeological discoveries in Italy and Greece.

In 1722 Louis XV moved from Paris, where he had lived with the Regent, to Versailles, began his own rule, and gradually imposed his own taste on the arts, architecture, and furniture.

Under their influence, straight lines disappeared, replaced by curves, ornaments lost all symmetry, and garlands of flowers appeared everywhere.

Secondly, the new wave of enthusiasm for ancient Greece and Rome brought a series of new decorative themes, though the lines of the furniture were not much changed.

Opponordt's designs in 1714 for the decor of the Hotel de Pomponne on Place des Victoires, featuring curving S and C forms, helped introduce the new style to Parisians.

Another important figure in introducing the new style was the painter Watteau, a former pupil of Audran, who, besides his famous paintings, made arabesque designs for the woodwork of the new chateau of La Muette.

In 1736 the carver and jewelry sculptor Jean Mondon published Premier Livre de form rocquaille et carte, the first book specifically on the style, and was among the first to include elements of Chinoiserie, notably dragons, a phoenix, and other figures.

Engravings of their designs for furniture, woodwork and other decoration circulated widely throughout Europe, making the rocaille style a model for artists and craftsmen in other counties to follow.

In the reign of Louis XIV ebony was most often used for this covering, but, beginning in 1675-80, more exotic and colorful woods were used, which could give more picturesque effects.

[9] Between 1769 and 1775, the furniture designer André Jacob Roubo published a series of books of engravings called L'Art du menusier, detailing the categories and styles.

The Bergere had a low seat with an additional cushion, and sometimes added padded wings atop the arms on either side of the back which protected the head against drafts, which also made it easier to take naps.

It was usually upholstered in leather fastened with gilded nails to the frame, had rounded angles, and one leg of the chair was placed in the front, another directly behind, for greater stability.

The and legs in the form of an exaggerated S or a reverse S. The supporting frame under the table was also highly decorated, sometimes holding porcelain objects, and sculpted figures of dragons or other mythical animals.

It was introduced by André-Charles Boulle around 1710 in the late reign of Louis XIV, as a replacement for the desk mounted atop two columns of drawers.

The early versions by Boulle were made of ebony and dark wood, and had eight legs, and six drawers, which were decorated with gilded bronze handles.

Later in the period, the flat desks featured an abundance of marquetry; they were made of oak or spain, were embedded with thin plaques of exotic woods of contrasting colors.

One particular variety, en coeur, or heart-shaped, was especially designed for men; it stood on three legs mounted on rollers, contained an assortment of drawers and small compartments, and featured a folding mirror on top.

[17] In the late, second style of Louis XV, after 1750, the tables lost the rococo curves and took on classical (or imagined classical) details, including table legs in the form of Doric columns; griffon paws and lion paws on the feet;, trophies of arms, friezes, and figures of nymphs, tripods and horns of plenty.

Bronze ornaments in the form of masks were replaced by faces of smiling women, palmettes, and, later in the period, a new theme, s stylized bat wing.

[19] A large number of skilled ébénistes from around Europe were employed to make fine wood Commodes and other furniture for the new apartments built by Louis XV at Versailles, Fontainebleau, and his other residences.

They included Jean-François Oeben, Roger Vandercruse Lacroix, Gilles Joubert, Antoine Gaudreau, and Martin Carlin.

A particular variation, called the façon de Chine or "Chinese fashion" was introduced, which contrasted the gilded bronze ornament and handles against the black lacquered wood.

The faces of the commodes were decorated with geometric friezes of oak leaves, roses or serpents and drapery motifs, the early manifestation of the Greco-Roman Neoclassical style.

Its front was lavishly decorated with friezes, trophies of arms and lions heads, while on the top, a pedestal supported by two scrolled volutes held a group of replicas of classical Greek statues.

[21] During the reign of Louis XV, the bureau and secretaire gradually evolved into the form of the modern desk, along with a wide variety of more elaborate variations.

a writing table with columns of drawers, graceful curving legs, gilded bronze decoration, and fine marquetry in geometric forms.

Madame de Pompadour possessed one of these, made between 1748–52, with a varnish of red and a blue in the Chinese style, which combined rocaille and exoticism.

It often featured a marquetry in a geometric pattern resembling cubes of dark and light wood, a design very popular in the last years of the Louis XV period.

It took its inspiration from Greek mythology and architecture, with friezes, vaulting, sculpted trophies, bronze lion heads, and other classic, elements.

[26] The ebenistes Jean-Henri Riesener, Jean-François Leleu, Martin Carlin and David Roentgen and menuisier Georges Jacob were among the most important creators of the late Louis XV transition style.