French Furniture, the Empire style!
In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte had himself anointed and crowned Emperor of En this year. The Empire style furniture is known as a style of majestic grandeur that Napoleon felt it appropriate to honor his glory. He saw himself as the greatest ruler of the world since Julius Caesar. The Empire style is the last of that great French styles greatly influenced the furniture design world. During his rule, Napoleon conquered the I your binds and E GY pte. He is overwhelmed by his conquest of these countries. He returned to France archaeological wonders of Egypt, the long forgotten ancient empire. He was proud of his conquest of Italy and Egypt and proudly regarded itself as the first worthy successor to Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. Furniture designed in this period was intended to imitate the creations of these great empires. Napoleon commissioned the greatest artist of Europe to create architecture and decoration which is equivalent to the size of Greece, the glory of Rome and the massiveness of Egypt.
The Empire style furniture is massive, on a grand scale and very masculine. He has a serious illness, look, heavy men with no sculpture. The wood carving is very common in the earlier styles of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI is generally replaced with wood veneers polished to high gloss. To equalize the bareness of wood veneer, metal gilts are used to decorate furniture . A good clue to identify the Empire style is the vulgar use of ormolu mounts. Ormolus are gold and metal ornaments usually in different motifs. These are usually derived from ancient sources or patriotic inspiration. There are motifs from Egyptian archeology. Falcon, sphinxes, cobras, obelisks, winged lions are some of these Egyptian inspired decorations. The fascination with Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and later on the excavations of ruins by the French Egyptologists created so much interest in everything related to Egypt.
There are also design motifs from ancient Greece and Rome. Vases, lamps, torches, heads of Greek gods, ram's head and horns of plenty are among the many Greek and Roman inspired decorations incorporated into the Empire style of furniture. Patriotism French is increasing during the reign of Napoleon and it was evident in the many inspired patriotic decorations which included laurel wreaths, eagles, swords, spears, rifles, drums and bugles. The use of legs that are shaped like animals or sphinxes is very typical of the Empire style. Graceful cabriole legs of previous styles have been replaced by massive, often overstated and vulgar, legs that are shaped like animals.
Here are the general characteristics of the Empire style of furniture:
1. She heavy masculine look.
2. polished wood veneer high gloss are used instead of wood decorated with sculpture usually associated with previous French furniture styles.
3. The excessive use of ormolu large, often badly cast frames.
4. wooden chairs with upholstered back. These include the barrel chair that is a very typical Empire style chair.
5. Using patterns inspired by classical Greece.
6. mirror panel to the table. This is usually used by women to check their non-plus-word length hemlines.
7. The use of designs inspired by ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece.
8. The use of patriotic and military motifs and the use of the letter "N", the original name of Napoleon.
In conclusion, it is relatively easy to recognize Empire style furniture with its massive appearance and overbearing ormolu mounts which usually depicts Egyptian, Greek and Roman themes. This style is a step backward from the simple but elegant style of Louis XVI style .
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