Baroque Furniture.
Baroque Furniture
The principal characteristic of Baroque is its rejection of the rationalism of the Renaissance. Baroque is much more dynamic and lively, particularly with its use of light and shade in the manner of a painter. The design of a piece and its detail were subjugated to achievement of dynamism, which was at the core of Baroque. The eye for the main lines was expressed through the materials used. Wood was inlaid with gemstones or semi-precious stones, tortoiseshell, precious metal, and ivory. Light was reflected by polished wood. Supports were turned as scrolls and an overall impression of curved form was created by the use of projecting pediments, plinths, and cornices. Much use was made of acanthus stems with broad leaves and conch shell motifs.
It is difficult to determine with furniture when Baroque replaced the Renaissance because the two styles co-existed for a time. Furthermore the characteristic Baroque elements only became fully apparent during the late eighteenth century.
France
Most of Europe, with a few exceptions, fell sway to the dynamism of Baroque. France though preferred more rigid classical lines. This found its expression in an individual French style of furniture. It was precisely at this time that greater power came into the hands of the French king and with it a greater role in artistic commissions and hence of trends at the hands of the French court.
The best artists and craftsmen worked in the Royal studios — with the establishment in 1677 of the Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la Couronne. Cabinet making became regarded as an art in itself, with cabinet makers also working as ebeniste (specialist in inlay or marquetry — the name is derived from the
French predilection for ebony inlay) and woodcarver.
In addition to the importance of construction and decoration in the making of furniture, consideration was also given to the location in which the furniture was to stand. The ebeniste, designer of the ornamentation, and the architect all made decisions about the final form of a piece. In the Middle Ages furniture had been largely portable or easily moved but during the Renaissance furniture was made for a more set place in the interior of homes. Now the far extreme was reached in which it was no longer intended that the piece should ever be moved.
A strange schism arose between furniture for the citizenry and very luxurious pieces. This also meant that different materials were used in the making of these different items. Instead of the customary walnut, more exotic types of wood were now used.
A good example of this is the use of ebony, which by the time of Louis XIII was already being decorated with coloured inlays.
The artist Andre Charles, who worked for the court of Louis XIV was exceptionally talented, and stood out from the other ebenistes. In his early period he also used Dutch motifs such as vases of jasmine, roses, and tulips in his mosaic woodwork. Later he was influenced by the designs of Berain and Marot and replaced his motifs with banding linked together with acanthus stems. His designs were formed with both negative and positive inlays such as light pewter in tortoiseshell and vice versa. Later still he replaced the marquetry of the 1660’s and 70’s as it became less fashionable.
The bed was an important piece of furniture as the whole morning ceremony of rising or lever occurred around it. The enclosed square form of the bed remained with four posts and both outer and inner curtains. The bedroom had several ante-rooms attached in which there was much coming and going of court functionaries. The chest was banished from the furnishing of rooms and was replaced by the commode which became popular in France around 1700. The commode was a development of the chest with drawer which Boulle placed on legs. In the French salons table commodes also appeared, set on tall legs, encrusted with inlays of metal and tortoiseshell. These legs were furthermore decorated with bronze mascarons or grotesque masks. The drawers too were fitted with bronze handles which also held the encrusted decoration in the veneer.
The most important piece of salon furniture was a superbly made cabinet with drawes. At first the Boulle cabinets had separate plinths but later these were integral.
Tables were adapted to the considerable demands of the time and there were numerous variations. In common with other furniture, tables too were inlaid with metal and the same was equally true of cashier’s tables, most of which had a small drawer. The older-style baluster legs were considered too plump and were replaced by cabriole legs.
Other rooms than the salons were often used for a number of purposes and as required night and toilet cabinets might be placed in them.
There were also heavy tables with marble tops plus smaller tables for lamps and suchlike. Console tables provided an architectural element.Seating in the form of fa u teu ils (armchairs), tabourets, sofas, and chairs formed part of the interiors of the homes of the wealthy and the aristocracy but cabinets did not. These were found in the homes of the citizenry but the new item of luxury furniture was the bookcase.
Many different types of armchair and chair were made. Armchairs with turned legs were widely used but later these legs were replaced with richly decorated baluster legs. These were joined together
with diagonal carved stretchers or with H-form stretchers but these disappeared with the arrival of cabriole legs.
The backs of armchairs became more all encompassing and were upholstered and rounded off at the top in an arch. The curved arms of the chairs also became upholstered.
French furniture makers were also influenced by English furniture makers. This led to the introduction of the commodite — a kind of wide armchair — into France. The canape was also partially developed from the English day bed or lit de repos.
German-speaking Europe and the Low Countries
Baroque expressed itself in Germany through very excessive and lively inlay and carving and was of considerable influence there. The elements of the Baroque style were incorporated with both imagination and consistency. The output of German furniture makers was equally diverse as German politics. Designs based on the Renaissance endured for a long time but alongside this a new style developed in the palaces, castles, and grand homes of the countless principalities, which adopted a great deal of the influences from elsewhere. Furniture was imported into northern Germany for some considerable time from the northern Netherlands. After the death of Frederick I of Prussia in 1713 late Italian Baroque started to become more widespread and the artistic centre moved to Dresden, which became one of the most important artistic centres in Europe under Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony.
The Bavarian court in southern Germany was strongly influenced by French examples and items such as console tables with French baluster legs and lighter tables in the style of Boulle were made. The encrusted decoration of this maker and also of Marot found favour here too. Cabinets in ebony from Augsburg of this period are exceptionally fine. They have inlays of polychrome stones, ivory, wood, and pietra dura (mosaic of semi-precious stones).
Furniture was largely made from walnut with intarsia inlays of other wood. Great care was taken to ensure that the beauty of the grain of the walnut was revealed to its fullest potential.
The cabinetmakers achieved considerable results in such furniture. German Baroque ornamentation was dominated from the 1660’s by heavy use of acanthus leaf motifs that had replaced conch shell forms, and by small arrow-like columns. Intarsia decorations became figurative from the start of the eighteenth century (bouquets of flowers were very popular) and no longer utilised vines, squares, or rectangular patterns. Baroque became increasingly more valid in Germany and this is clearly apparent with cabinets.
The older-style cabinet on bun feet was drastically altered. It changed into a four-door — later two-door — cabinet with heavy cornice, turned pilasters or columns, and angled fronts.
In terms of furniture, the northern parts of the Low Countries can be considered as an entity with northern Germany, although there were local style variations of course. Hamburg was an important furniture-making centre. The Hamburg four-door cabinet closely resembled Dutch Renaissance cabinets. In addition to these a fine two door cabinet appeared from Hamburg around 1700 with a straight cornice. The faсade comprised large decorated areas with continuous pilasters. A similar cabinet from the Dutch Republic of this time is the linen cabinet for storing pillows.
The partial cornices of cabinets from Dantzig (Gdansk) gave them a less fussy appearance and their square panels were decorated with mythological scenes. By contrast, cabinets from Lubeck had arched cornices. The Baroque influence ensured that cabinets from Holstein and Westphalia were embellished with figurative decorations.
The influence of the naturalistic Dutch floral intarsia decoration remained apparent throughout the eighteenth century. In addition to the main show pieces many painted and non carved pieces were made in northern Germany.
In southern Germany, new life was given to Renaissance cabinets at Ulm and cabinets from Augsburg were smaller and sometimes overwhelmingly decorated. The popularity of the Wellenschrank originating from Frankfurt was great from the beginning of the seventeenth century. This is a simply decorated cabinet in walnut veneer with an attractive curved front. Cabinets were also the most important item of furniture in northern Germany too.
There were various variants of these as elsewhere. Those from Hamburg were decorated with acanthus stems while Dantzig cabinets were smaller with one or two doors.
Commodes with pull-out leaf for writing and bureaux formed important pieces of furniture in the homes of the middle classes. Their chairs had spiral, turned, or cabriole legs and leather seats and these were also used to sit at table.
These chairs had high backs with heavy armrests and were decorated with carved banding and acanthus stems.
Many canopy beds with turned posts had large panels that were usually copiously decorated with intarsia inlay or carving. Gradually beds began to be made without valances.
Carving fell out of favour over the years so that cabinets had large plain surfaces on their fronts which gave them a monumental appearance.