Decorative Art. Albert Jacquemart
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Decorative Art - Albert Jacquemart страница 9
Название: Decorative Art
Автор: Albert Jacquemart
Издательство: Parkstone International Publishing
Жанр: Иностранные языки
Серия: Temporis
isbn: 978-1-78042-884-0, 978-1-78310-787-2
isbn:
Through time, connoisseurs have continued to be on their guard against various imitations; many of the old pieces of furniture in the Boulle style have had their panels destroyed and replaced by pieces of lacquer, sometimes they have even been imitated through the preservation and restoration of the framework of inlaid ebony. There have been some Boulle pieces with oriental lacquer, but they are very rare and the foreign pieces in them were selected with great care amongst those of the first quality.
As for complete imitations, it seems superfluous to dwell on them; there is so little affinity either in style or workmanship between these pieces and the originals that only a novice would be deceived.
“Cavalrymen” cupboard, c. 1615–1620. Carved wood, 126 cm. Castle of Écouen, Musée national de la Renaissance.
Dagobert’s throne, 9th and 12th centuries (backrest). Gilt bronze. Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Furniture in marquetry of various woods
How was it that in the 15th century the Italian intarsiatori conceived the idea of depicting ornaments and even landscapes in coloured woods? It was because they had seen the elders paint with fragments of stone; tiles containing in essence the idea of marquetry. How was it that centuries later the cabinet makers resumed a process abandoned for so long? The broad limits of their productions are now carried even further; they wished, like their predecessors, to encroach on the domain of a neighbouring art. Some thought this was to rival mosaic work, while others believed they could become painters. There is certainly one true fixed principle, which is that furniture should be in harmony with the objects that surround it. However, the results of this principle must not be forced so as to depart from the limits assigned by good sense and good taste to each branch of industry. The panelling with their pastoral scenes and the tapestries sufficed to represent the fashion of the 18th century without the participation of marquetry workers.
It would be difficult to fix a precise date for the introduction of modern marquetry; if we are to consider its first appearance as coeval with the use of woods arranged in panellings with bands of moulding and threads of light-coloured wood we must go back to the end of the Renaissance. We have mentioned the modest attempts at herringbone combinations in wood under Louis XIII and eventually under Louis XIV. We have seen André-Charles Boulle depict two splendid vases of flowers on the panels of an armoire. Once the momentum came about, the idea burst forth with sufficient brilliance for it to develop rapidly; from the time of the Regency until the end of the century, it increased and was applied in excess.
The progress of commerce had a considerable share in the development of marquetry work as distant countries contributed their brilliant products. Rosewood, brightly coloured in its grain but limited in the size of its pieces, originated the idea of opposing dispositions of the pieces in herringbone, squares and lozenges; the citron tree provided the white threads used for enclosing large spaces or heightening the frames of violet wood, and the field became open to caprice which took possession of it without restraint. Charles Cressent first inaugurated mixtures of rosewood, violet and amaranth woods; soon after, the natural tints still seemed too restricted causing the woods to be subjected to artificial colouring and employed in mosaic work to imitate painting.
Throne, late 15th century. Oak.
Once the method was adopted in full, it proceeded with unprecedented rapidity. First, bouquets of flowers appeared in their natural colours, their leaves varied with every shade of green. Next, trophies of musical or rustic instruments were suspended by brightly coloured ribbons. It was a small step from pastoral scenes to amorous emblems; quivers and torches surmounted by the customary doves appeared on all sides. More than this, the medallions enriched with garlands showed shepherdesses in satin robes reclining in sylvan groves. Pastoral scenes invaded the panellings of secretaries, sides of commodes, and covered the bonheurs-du-jour.
A strange aberration resulted, even at the moment of execution, in a certain approximation greatly inferior to the models, and which, from the effects of time, the action of light upon the dyes and the natural play of the resins during the drying of the wood, was soon to represent mere faded designs, and an ensemble without any other harmony than that resulting from the destruction of the effect desired to be produced. It is sad to reflect on the amount of talent and labour spent composing these scenes, now reduced to a sort of cloudy sketch. The once brilliant draperies are dulled and dirty, the faded roses lasted as long as roses last; and when we compare these works with the tapestries, seats and tissues which accompanied them, we cannot help saying that even when they first came from the hands of their makers, they must have been extinguished by their brilliant surroundings. But let us pass on from this accomplishment and try, by following the stages in marquetry work, to retrace the evolutionary history of modern furniture, the two subjects sharing the closest connection.
We have said a few words on Italian marquetry without dwelling upon it, for the inventions of brothers Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano were rather intended to decorate the woodwork of cathedral choirs than to enhance private furniture. We find a few rare chests in which some rudimentary sculptures, on a painted background, are framed in a chequered work of brown and yellow wood. There are certainly the certosa works but these are not real marquetry. During the Renaissance, sculptural notions and the search for architectural forms bring furniture into a serious style, incompatible with the coquetries of tinted woods. When, towards its close, the want of a rather flaunting style of elegance begins to manifest itself, it comes in the application of engraved ivory and the addition of pietra dura. Architecture still retains its dominance and finds itself decked in jewels like the people of the court.
Under Louis XIII, furniture increases in size and weight in unison with other works of art. Ebony, which sculpture cannot enliven, seeks aid from chased bronze or even from the application of wrought copper; Flanders is already attempting to add tortoise shell to frameworks.
Throne, Île-de-France, c. 1550. Carved walnut wood.
Four-poster bed from the Castle of Effiat, c. 1650. Natural walnut, chiselled Genoa silk velvet and embroidered silks, 295 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Chairs with arms, early 17th century. Wood and tapestry.
But here we have Louis XIV and Boulle under whom wood becomes inlaid with tortoise shell and brilliant metals, so as to place itself in equality with the splendour of the palaces. Furniture continues to be official, pompous, and foreign to private life, or at any rate, encroaching upon it solely from the outside, as in the reception room and study of the magistrate or commoner. If we were to search for tokens of coming modifications, it is there that we will find them. The shelf of the bureau assumes important outlines; its front bends in convex curves, its feet are slightly bowed in the form of an S and repose on cross bars shaped like an X. There is general relaxation in the rigidity of the official furniture admitted at Versailles, which, first inspired by the precise style of Le Brun, was perpetuated by the rigid discipline of the Gobelins.
Under the Regency and during the first years of Louis XV, everything will change. Woods of every variety will introduce themselves to decorate furniture of new forms; small apartments will replace staterooms and the bedroom will become the nest of privacy surrounded СКАЧАТЬ