Chapter II: Historic Review (2)

The greatest achievement of the architects of the Renaissance was perhaps their adaptation of the antique Roman style to the modified needs of secular buildings, of which the Palazzo Pitti at Florence by Brunelleschi is an early and notable example. This creating a form of architecture which perhaps reached its noblest expression in the Palazzo Strozzi, begun in 1489 A.D. by Benedetto da Majano.

As previously suggested, climate and local material are essential agents in the formation of style, and from Tuscany stone of large size was easily obtainable.

The contentious conditions existing in many of the Italian cities, entailing necessity for defence, must also be taken into account, and in connection with the foregoing were responsible for the massive and fortress-like construction of the principal dwellings of this period.

In the best examples of these, though columns and pilasters were not employed in the façade, the stories are proportioned as if the orders were used. The crowning cornice, however, is proportioned to the whole, varying in height between one fourteenth to one fifteenth.

From Florence the movement spread to Rome and other cities, but Venetian Renaissance indicates undoubted evidence of Lombardic influence.

Until the end of the fifteenth century the period was one of experiment, but from 1500 to about 1560 the style may be said to have attained a phase distinct and local.

At first the various features, structural and decorative, were frank reproductions from the antique, which were studied and measured, and from which systems of proportion were deduced by various exponents, among whom the names of Vignola, Palladio and Serlio are conspicuous.

_Rome_

The Roman version of the Renaissance, as distinct from that of Florence, was less massive, Rome being comparatively free from insurrectionary troubles. Columns and pilasters were used to divide the façade into bays, or in the inner courts, which were frequently arcaded, and the principal entrance became a prominent feature.

The founder of the Roman school was Bramante, born in 1444 A.D., originally a painter, who was responsible for the original design of St. Peter’s, at the instigation of Pope Julius II.

The partly executed work was found to be too weak to bear the superstructure, and Bramante in the meanwhile dying, Raffaelle, Giocondo and Giuliano di San Gallo, and afterwards Baldazzare Peruzzi and Antonio San Gallo were engaged on the edifice.

Finally Michael Angelo was entrusted with the sole conduct, and St. Peter’s in its present form must be credited to him, with the exception of the nave, which was added by Carlo Maderno.

Of the secular buildings, the Farnese Palace, the work of San Gallo, is typical of the Roman adaptation of the antique architecture to the altered conditions.

To the above list of architects of the Roman Renaissance may be added the names of Sansovino, Vignola and Bernini, the last-named being the author of designs for the Louvre at Paris.

_Venice_

The Venetian States, since the twelfth century, had been growing in power, and the Republic’s rise in importance was favourable to the arts, particularly to architecture.

Local influence is evident in the comparatively restricted ground areas, entailing the maximum accommodation possible.

The Venetian school is distinguished by the profuse use of columns and arcading; also for the employment of circular-headed windows, frequently subdivided by tracery of smaller arched and circular forms, and by general lightness of effect.

The founder of the Venetian school was San Micheli, born in 1484 A.D., who spent many years studying the ancient Roman monuments, and who was responsible for the Grimani Palace.

Jacopo Tatti, a Florentine, more usually known as Sansovino, though mentioned in the Roman group of architects, was however more associated with Venice, his adopted city.

Prominent among his works is the Library of St. Mark, which consists of two orders, an upper of the Ionic, supported by an arcade in which the Doric is employed, the whole surmounted by a balustrade with statues on the piers.

_Venetian Influence_

In the Venetian school must be included the name of Andrea Palladio, who possibly had a greater influence on the architecture of the time than any of his contemporaries; an influence that may be traced in the work of Inigo Jones, and in that of Sir Christopher Wren and his immediate school.

Vincenzo Scamozzi, who died in 1616 A.D., like Palladio and others, was influenced by the antique, and was perhaps the last architect of the Venetian school to attain celebrity.

_Painted Decoration_

A conspicuous feature of the Italian Renaissance was the development of painted decoration, which had in Italy succeeded the Byzantine mosaic.

As in this method of decoration, mouldings in relief were ineffective, and were replaced by decorative bands or borders, so in the succeeding painted work similar framings were adopted.

Mosaics were in vogue in Italy to the twelfth century, when painted decoration came into favour, and notable in the exploitation of this latter phase was the school of Giotto in the early part of the fourteenth century.

Vaultings and spandrils were covered with painted subjects, strongly framed by ornamental borders, which served to strengthen the sense of construction in reinforcing the dividing ribs.

With the advent of the Renaissance, these divisional bands became more architectural in treatment, and large areas, such as ceilings, were subdivided, the sub-divisions being based on a logical sense of construction.

The name of Pinturrichio is associated with the Renaissance, among his works being the decorations of the Appartamenti Borgia in the Vatican, the Choir in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, and in Santa Maria Maggiore at Spello; contemporaneous was Perugino; another celebrated name is that of Gian Antonio Bazzi of Sienna, generally known as Sodoma.

_Græco-Roman Influence_

Later exploiters of painted decoration, Raffaelle at the Vatican, Giulio Romano, Pierino del Vaga and Giovanni da Udine, were evidently influenced by the then recent discovery of late Græco-Roman decorations in the remains of the Baths of Titus.

The same influence is found also in minor details--in the decoration of rooms and in the various pieces of furniture.

Walls were panelled, sometimes enriched with carving, with inlaid patterns in intarsia, or with inlay of different woods in imitation of marble mosaic. Hangings of Genoese velvet or stamped and gilded leather were often used.

Chairs were at first simple in form, having straight backs and legs, with broad, elaborately carved rails at the head of the back and between the front legs.

Chests or cassone, called also marriage coffers, because it was customary to give them as wedding presents, generally took the form of the sarcophagus, supported on claw feet. In many instances they were decorated with gilt gesso, or were covered with exuberant carving.

With the development of inlay, which degenerated into picture making, some later examples show attempts at perspectives, in which arches, doors, balustrades and paved floors were depicted. Cabinets were invariably raised on open supports and furnished with doors enclosing compartments and sets of drawers, the fronts of which were frequently decorated.

Tables were inlaid, carved and gilded. The prevailing form was a rectangular top, sometimes of marble, with wide, richly carved supports consisting of human and animal forms at either end; these were connected by a central stretcher at the base, from which sprang a series of arched forms reaching to the underside of the top.

Walnut was commonly employed for constructive purposes, and ebony and many other woods were used both for veneers and inlay, as also were such materials as ivory, tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl.

It is not easy to form an idea of the furniture in ordinary use, as the examples which survive and which can generally be seen in museums are misleading, being typical rather of that belonging to the nobility and wealthy classes.

Probably owing to the rougher usage to which it was subjected, and possibly also to its being but little esteemed by its owners, and consequently no effort being made to preserve it, the domestic furniture of the middle classes seems to have disappeared.

_Early French Renaissance_

France had been brought into contact with the new architecture through the Italian wars under Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I.

The chief characteristic of the early French Renaissance is that the details of the new school were imposed on structures which were Gothic in general form.

Italian architects were employed by Francis I, and although in the many important buildings erected for him he preferred native workmen, Italians were retained to furnish designs and lead the new style. Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Sarto were both employed in the decoration of Fontainebleau.

Fontainebleau, Chateau de Chambord, Chenonceaux sur Loire, Chateau de Madrid and the commencement of the Louvre were all due to Francis I, and the Italian influence was strengthened by the marriage of Henry II with Catharine di Medici.

_Native Exploitation_

Under the influence of Vignola and Serlio, the Italian style became more popular, and finally extinguished the lingering Gothic tradition; and eventually the assimilated style became local, the first prominent native exploiter being Philibert Delorme, the architect of the Tuileries, for Queen Catharine of Medicis.

Strapwork was a pronounced feature of this period, carved panels being subdivided by framings of straight and curved forms interlaced with cornucopæ and scroll work. Scrolling straps with I shaped incisions were also used.

Masks are of frequent occurrence, and sometimes form scroll centres.

Medallions were often employed, and were occupied by profile heads, and surrounded by foliated wreaths.

Pilasters were narrow, and had sunk and moulded panels, lozenge shaped in the centre.

In England great impetus was given to building, consequent on the suppression of the religious houses during the reign of Henry VIII, and mansions were erected in various parts of the country with some pretension to both external effect and domestic comfort, not merely by the nobility, but also by the wealthy merchant class.

_English Renaissance_

From the rise of the Italian Renaissance a century elapsed before the new style began to affect English work.

In Italy classic tradition had never died, and consequently Gothic gained no real hold there, the best examples of Italian Gothic being inferior to those of France and England. In the early days of the Revival of Learning, when interest in architecture was at its height, Italians set out to emulate the style of building and decoration which prevailed in ancient Rome. Gradually the same spirit spread to other parts of Europe. Students were attracted to the birth-place of the Revival, and workers and designers from Italy were eagerly welcomed by her neighbours.

Naturally enough each country interpreted the new style in a different way, and as it reached England chiefly through France and the Netherlands, the French and Flemish interpretations in turn influenced the development of the English style.

_Italians in England_

Before either French or Flemish influence had been felt, however, there were Italian workers settled in England carrying out designs purely Italian in character. The earliest example is the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey, by Torrigiano. Many tombs and monuments were made entirely by Italians. Holbein, who was employed by Henry VIII, was distinctly a Renaissance painter and designer and encouraged the new movement.

As the style became more widely disseminated it lost much of its original purity, and classical details were used in conjunction with Gothic forms and methods of construction, due, doubtless, to the apparent difficulty with which the native workers grasped the essentials of the new style; indeed, there is more intermixing of styles in England than in any other part of Europe with the exception of Flanders.

The purely Italian phase was followed by a rendering which was largely borrowed from French work, and this in turn was supplanted by the influence of the Flemish interpretation. The delicately modelled foliage, dolphins, candelabra, vases and cherubs, so characteristic of Italian and French work, were replaced by such typically Flemish details as interlacing strapwork with curved and scrolled ends, frequently cartouche-like in form, festoons of fruit and foliage, and terminal figures used as pilasters.

_Study of Classic Style_

In the late Jacobean and succeeding phases the classic manner was more thoroughly understood, and a more scholarly handling was the result, until the culmination was reached in the work of Inigo Jones and Wren.

The Elizabethan phase indicates an imperfectly understood, and in many instances meaningless, employment and adaptation of Italian forms to the requirements of the times.

A notable example if this is the central feature of the Public Schools at Oxford, the work of Thomas Holt, a native of York, in which the orders appear ranged one above the other.

_Thomas Thorpe_

The most prominent name associated with the architecture of the period is Thomas Thorpe, who was concerned in many of the principal edifices erected during the reign of Elizabeth and of her successor, James I.

The general arrangement of woodwork consisted of architectural façades, and the orders and pediments were utilised wherever possible.

Doorways and chimney-pieces offered the principal opportunities for display in interior work.

Panelling was retained for the large halls and most of the rooms. The walls were frequently divided into bays by means of pilasters and surmounted by friezes and cornices more or less determined by traditional forms.

_Flemish Influence_

The style degenerated in the same reign into a coarser rendering, and was followed by a period of strong Flemish influence. There is, in fact, such a marked similarity between the later Elizabethan and Flemish furniture and wood-work that it is not easy to distinguish the nationality of examples of this period. In cases where figure sculpture is employed, however, it is not difficult to decide, as a considerably higher standard was attained by the Flemish school of figure carvers than is found in English work.

Tapered pilaster-like supports, surmounted by half figures or Ionic caps, were often employed in the framing of doors and chimney-pieces, and sometimes on furniture. Table supports and newels of stairs increased in size. The heavy acorn-shaped baluster is a feature. Inlay came into use for panelling as well as for furniture.

Synchronously with the changes in detail, there was a more classical tendency displayed in moulded features such as strings and cornices.

In the early seventeenth century the scale of the details of Flemish work increased. Diamond-shaped panels were superimposed on square ones; turned work was split and the two halves applied; drop ornaments were used below tables and from the centres of panels under arches--all these being additions to the general structure.

_Jacobean_

English work developed in much the same way as Flemish, probably owing to the commerce in wood-work between England and Flanders at this time.

In the earlier work, where the orders were employed, there was some regard to proportion and detail, probably direct translation of Italian designs, but in the later Jacobean work there was considerable falling-off, presumably due to native exploitation and experiment.

Architectural feeling was prominent in the treatment of interiors, which were invariably panelled as in the earlier period. The characteristic “linen fold” variety of the late Tudor giving place to plain panelling, framed by stiles and rails closely spaced.

Walls were occasionally divided into bays by means of pilasters, often supported on pedestals.

The panels in the later development were invariably plain, but a decorated frieze, carved in relief, was carried round immediately under the cornice. Coats of arms at intervals sometimes supplied the decoration. The carved frieze gave place to a simple form of patterning, which was produced by sinking the ground to practically one level and leaving the ornament which had little or no modelling, flush with the face of the panel. This led to fretting out the pattern and applying it to the surface. The idea of planting ornament evidently spread, and may be seen in such obviously applied details as studs and half-balusters.

A typical room of the period would be treated with plain panelling, perhaps divided into bays by pilasters, and all elaboration was confined to the doorways and chimney-piece.

The chimney-piece might be in wood, stone or marble, and while there were many varieties of treatment, the designs readily fall under one general type. Columns or pilasters flanked the opening,

carrying an entablature consisting of architrave frieze and cornice, the latter forming a shelf. Above this there was a similar arrangement, but on a smaller scale and with finer proportions. The space between the columns above the shelf was usually filled with carving, which sometimes took the form of armorial bearings. In many examples the upper part is divided into two panels, which were generally filled with carved ornament such as strapwork or shields charged with heraldic devices.

Where the chimney-piece was of wood, the fireplace opening was surrounded by a stone lining, which had moulded splays on the upright jambs. In earlier examples the jambs were connected by a flattened arch with carved spandrils. In later work a horizontal panel was employed or a frieze of carved detail.

The opening itself was wide, and was lined with brick or stone. The interior was occupied by a fire-back of cast-iron and a movable grate or basket supported on dogs.

Doors were at first merely a part of the panelling without hanging frames, but later they were treated as important features of the rooms. They were often framed with columns and pilasters, surmounted by entablatures, with or without pediments. Obelisks were sometimes placed over the pilasters. The frieze was fluted or carved. In many cases the tympanum of the pediment or even one of the door panels bore the owner’s coat of arms.

In the earlier phases the mouldings framing the panels were simple in form, and worked on the stiles and rails. But later they were applied, being wider in display and more elaborate in section. These applied mouldings, evidently the result of mechanical appliances, later led to extreme license in broken angles and panellings of complicated form.

Ceilings, and occasionally the frieze, were in plaster, decorated with intersecting ribs, or bands dividing the surface into compartments geometric in shape, and further enriched with stamped or modelled ornament.

Windows were relatively small as to individual openings, large lighting areas being obtained by grouping a number of these side by side, and also in tiers, the dividing bars or mullions being either in wood or stone.

Glazing took the form of small pieces of glass united by lead frames, commonly arranged in trellis form, resulting in diamond-shaped pieces. Occasionally painted or coloured glass was used, generally in heraldic devices in the upper portions of the windows.

The windows themselves were frequently deeply embayed.

_Development in Dwellings_

The growing appreciation of domestic comfort, evident in the general arrangement of the buildings of this period, is also apparent in the furniture, which from this time approximates somewhat to the modern forms, though still crude, and leaving much to be desired in the way of personal comfort.

Tables, which had hitherto been mere portable boards laid on trestles, or, if fixed, were on heavy legs with rails below, developed into more useful forms. These were the draw-inge table which could be extended by drawing out two flaps worked on runners from beneath the normal top, and the gate-leg table, which in principle resembled the modern folding type. Large tables were formed by putting a number of gate-leg tables together, and when not so in use they could be placed in different parts of the room.

Legs and the under rails of chairs and tables were turned in the lathe, and the carved details were invariably simple and direct in execution, similar in character to much of the work in the early French Renaissance, in contrast to the Italian carving, which was in high relief and plastic in character.

The majority of examples in our national collection of this period are of Court furniture, and cannot be taken as typical of what was in common use. The over-ornamented Italian work compares unfavourably with the English Jacobean furniture, in which utility is obvious and the decoration subordinate and to the purpose.

Oak was chiefly employed in England, but in Italy, and later in France, walnut was much used.

Panelling was prevalent for interiors in the Italian and French Renaissance. In Italy, where the art of weaving had been preserved at Lucca, and other places, tapestry was also frequently employed as wall hangings, also as coverings for upholstered work.

Compared with the earlier period, this was a time of luxury and display, favourable to the arts generally.

Painting, freed from the restrictions of the church, broke away from the Byzantine traditions, and revelling in realism, lost to some extent its decorative character.

No. 103.]

_Evolution of Professional Designer_

Under patronage, the individual artist and craftsman was allowed to develop on his own lines, and no longer worked under the dominance of the architect. Demand, owing to growing appreciation of artistic production, eventuated in the evolution of the professional designer.

_Inigo Jones_

No. 104.]

Although the Renaissance had come to stay, the manner of its interpretation in England by the native workers was very far removed from the Italian school which had supplied the first impulse, until the advent of Inigo Jones in the reign of James I. This artist, who had visited Italy and studied principally the architecture of Palladio and his school, was appointed King’s Surveyor of Works. Under his influence proportions and details were used, which conformed more nearly to classic types.

Born about 1572 A.D., he studied in Italy, where he became acquainted with the work of Palladio, and was a follower of the Venetian school.

Dying in 1652, he left a tradition which would have had a more immediate effect but for the internecine troubles of the later period of his life.

A typical example of his work in London is the Banqueting House in Whitehall, the only part built of the projected palace for James I, now used as a museum by the United Service Institution. Also the Church of St. Paul, Covent Garden.

_Louis XIII_

By the time of Louis XIII the principles of the Renaissance had become thoroughly assimilated in France, and a native school of architecture had arisen of marked distinction. France from then onward took the initiative, though strongly influenced by the Venetian school.

The orders were used consistently as to proportion and detail, but in the decoration considerable development in character is manifest.

The general construction and details developed on

more architectural lines, and shew a better appreciation of the Italian originals. Pilasters were used to divide the wall surfaces, these and the entablatures closely following in detail the classic types. Panels were much wider than in the preceding style, generally occupying the whole space between the pilasters. The usual arrangement for these panels was to have them in two tiers--the shallow ones confined to the lower portions of walls and those of deeper proportions above. Fireplaces and doors were surrounded by boldly moulded architraves, and surmounted by panels occupied by carved details of scroll-work and foliage.

Ceilings were modelled in stucco and sub-divided into compartments, which were richly moulded, and in some cases decorated with paintings.

During the reign of Louis XIII, chairs were made more comfortable by being upholstered in velvet, tapestry or needlework, instead of being smothered with carving. The frames were covered by velvet or other material, leaving only the legs and arms visible, and these were but slightly carved.

_Louis XIV_

In France the Renaissance reached its highest degree of splendour in the reign of Louis XIV.

The palace of Versailles, designed by Jules Hardouin Mansart, was completed, and French designers were many and famous. Amongst the most prominent were Lebrun, who was responsible for much of the interior work at Versailles, Jean and Claude Berain, Lepautre, Daniel Marot and André Charles Boule, the inventor of the particular class of inlay which bears his name.

The style of Louis XIV is characteristic of its time. Love of display was manifested in every direction, but nowhere did it give rise to greater magnificence than in furniture and decoration.

The employment of architectural features, with a close approximation to accepted proportions, had been the keynote of the preceding style, but the work of this period broke away from all tradition. As a departure it was quite original, and constituted a phase in the development of the Renaissance that was purely and typically French, and this particularly in its massiveness and grandeur.

Panelling became more varied in proportion, and heavily framed with mouldings of the Bolection type. Glass was also used in panels as at Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors, where the windows on one side of the gallery are repeated in form by mirrors in reciprocal positions.

Important rooms were panelled and divided by pilasters, surmounted by entablatures. The Corinthian order was the one most frequently used.

Panel mouldings were heavily and richly carved. Curved sections and facias were fluted, or carved with guilloche or leaf detail. Figures and _amorini_, heavy festoons, wreaths, cartouches and shields were among the decorative motifs. Strapwork, a survival of the preceding styles, was moulded and clothed with foliage of the acanthus variety.

Ceilings were modelled in stucco and were divided into bold geometrical compartments by strongly moulded ribs. The compartments were sometimes occupied by paintings. In some cases the cornice was not taken up to the height of the ceiling, but the ceiling line was continued in form of a curve to meet the top of the cornice, forming what is known as a cove.

Chairs were massive, the frames were carved and gilt, and the seats and backs upholstered in tapestry. In the latter part of the reign of Louis XIV metal was used in the construction of furniture in the form of mounts--as framing and protecting pieces to angles, and was gilt by the mercury process. The introduction of veneer probably led to this use of metal.

_"Boule” Work_

A method of decorating furniture with inlays of brass or tin and tortoiseshell originated by André Charles Boule, came into vogue. The sheets of metal and shell were placed together and cut simultaneously, with the result that the patterns produced were interchangeable--thus the metal pattern could be fitted with a tortoiseshell background and vice versa. There was a tendency for this style of work to become more ornate and showy, and later, instead of the transparent shell being used in its natural colour, either vermilion or gold leaf was placed underneath.

_Mirrors_

Mirrors, in the sixteenth century, had been imported from Italy, and those of considerable size were first made in Venice.

Later glass manufactories were established in England--near Battersea--and in France, where larger mirrors and plates of glass were produced than hitherto.

Rooms lined with mirrors became popular, in some cases even the ceiling being made of glass.

Console tables, which were frequently gilt, were often placed under the large wall mirrors.

Hanging bands of material were employed to drape the heads of windows and the tops of bedsteads. Beds were important pieces of furniture, and had elaborately carved head and foot boards. The overhanging Tester was also ornamented, and besides the valances already mentioned, was surmounted by groups of plumes.

_Louis XV_

Little advance was made in architecture during the reign of Louis XV, to which period belongs the Pantheon at Paris, originally the Church of St. Geneviéve, the work of Soufflet, born in 1713.

_Régence_

The style passed through two stages. The earlier, known as the Régence--the principal exponents of which were Charles Cressent, Gilles Marie Oppenord, and Nicholas Pineau--is distinguished by a certain reserve and moderation which were entirely abandoned in the later Rococo period.

_Rococo_

The term “Rococo” is derived from a French word meaning rockwork, and is applied to the style in which rock and shell forms are used as details.

Ornament became extravagant and meaningless, and was wrongly used to serve the purpose of construction, the actual constructive elements being at times completely ignored. It cannot be denied, however, that powerful draughtsmanship and inventiveness were displayed, but without the consideration of practical execution, which is essential to all good design.

Evidently the artist or designer dominated the craftsman, who, however, grappled with difficulties in an admirable manner, often achieving results which would appear from the constructional point of view almost impossible of attainment.

The work of the latter part of the period expresses the enervated and frivolous spirit of the time.

Walls were panelled and often divided by pilasters, which, however, lost all structural significance.

Cornices and friezes were dispensed with, the frieze being replaced by a cove curving into the ceiling.

Mouldings were broken at angles and intersections into curves, scrolls and foliage.

Carved details of the curiously twisted leafage peculiar to the style were employed wherever possible.

Painted panels were fashionable, and were used particularly over doorheads. They were surrounded or framed by curved and enriched mouldings.

Interiors of this later period were invariably painted white, and partly gilt, the wall panels decorated with tapestry or paintings with which are associated the names of Bouchier, Watteau, and Fragonard.

Ceilings were also painted, wall mirrors were employed and furniture (at this period at times extremely costly) was veneered and decorated with metal mounts in gilt ormolu.

Chair and table legs were of the cabriole type.

Bureaux fronts were swelled into curves both horizontally and vertically.

Veneer and marqueterie were much used.

Chased and gilt brass was employed to protect angles, as feet, handles, escutcheons and other ornamental details.

No. 115.]

_Lacquer “Vernis Martin"_

Furniture was also decorated in imitation of Chinese lacquer. The principal worker in it was Robert Martin, who introduced a varnish of fine transparent quality.

_Later English Renaissances_

Artistic progress was hindered in England by the disturbed conditions at the time of the Civil War, and in consequence little change in style took place in this and the Commonwealth period.

With the Restoration came the influence of the French Court, and foreign furniture was imported, thus giving fresh models for the English workers.

One result of the Great Fire in 1666 was that a great impetus was given to architecture and to the crafts associated with it, and the influence of Wren and Grinling Gibbons produced a school of most efficient carvers and craftsmen.

_Sir Christopher Wren_

Wren was a worthy successor to Inigo Jones, and the general destruction wrought by the fire in the city gave him a fine field for his activity. He was employed not only to rebuild the churches, eighty-nine of which had been burnt, but also many of the city halls; and was commissioned by William and Mary to build the state-rooms at Hampton Court Palace.

The style of Wren, which, like that of Inigo Jones, was based rather upon the Venetian school, was perpetuated and found individual exponents in the works of his pupils and immediate successors. Among whom may be mentioned James Gibbs (1720 to 1754), architect of St. Martin’s in the Fields (1726) and St. Mary le Strand, and Nicholas Hawksmoor, who was responsible for the churches of St. George’s, Bloomsbury, and St. Mary, Woolnoth, the latter commenced in 1716 was finished in 1718.

Notable among Wren’s churches is that of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, in the City of London; of his secular work an example may be cited in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge.

_Classic Spires_

A characteristic of the period in the churches of Wren and his school is the spire, which, though tapering like the Gothic variety, is invested with features quite Renaissance in form, arranged in successive tiers.

The architecture of the period is in excellent proportion, and all the details of mouldings, capitals, etc., were executed in a masterly manner.

Panelling was still employed, mostly in oak, and was now carried up to the ceiling. The panels were very wide, frequently bevelled at the edges--the stiles and rails forming the framings being much wider than hitherto. The framing mouldings were sometimes carved.

Doorways and chimneypieces were surrounded by well-designed architraves, with carved mouldings, and were surmounted by pediments, above which it was not unusual to have carved festoons and pendants of fruit and foliage.

Pilasters were decorated with cherubs’ heads used as caps, and pendant drops of the usual type.

Carving was profusely used, the details consisted mainly of interlacing scrollwork of acanthus-like foliage, heavy fruit and flower festoons and drops, trophies and cherubs’ heads. The relief was high, the work occasionally being detached, and the manner of execution was sharp and crisp, implying no hesitation on the part of the carver.

The high relief necessitated building up thicknesses of wood, and formed a great contrast to the earlier work in which the ground was slightly set back, leaving the original panel face as the highest part of the pattern.

The woods commonly used were oak for wainscotting and cedar for doors. Where it was intended that the woodwork should be painted or gilt it was made in deal. Some of the carving was in oak, but the favorite material was limewood, and pear; cedar or lime was used when small fine detail was required. Elm was employed for various articles such as dressers: ash, beech, birch, poplar, sycamore, English and Italian walnut were also used.

_Dutch and French Influences_

With William III and his Dutch court the influence of the Netherlands became once more apparent. It was coloured by the French style of the Louis XIV period, probably through an immigration of French workmen after the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This influence can be traced in some of the furniture at Hampton Court, particularly in the carved and gilt tables of French design and English workmanship.

The chairs and settees of the period have shaped backs, generally with delicately carved central vertical panels of vase-like form; and cabriole legs with a carved shell ornament on the knee.

Bureaux and corner cupboards were introduced. They were decorated with marqueterie or with inlay of boxwood or holly on a walnut ground.

_Queen Anne Period_

Flemish or Dutch influence prevailed during the period known as Queen Anne.

The typical Queen Anne chair in common with all the furniture of the period was made of walnut. The seat was wide, the front legs cabriole shaped, ending, as a rule, in club or claw-and-ball feet. The back was high and curved at the top, and this was connected centrally with the seat by a long vase or fiddle-shaped splat. Carving was not much used, but the splat was sometimes ornamented with floral and other designs in marqueterie after the Dutch fashion.

During this period an appreciation for Oriental china and lacquer work had an important effect on furniture and decoration.

The later fashion of inlay and marquetry work of Sheraton was perhaps as much the outcome of the Dutch practice of this form of decoration, as it was due to the discovery of the possibilities of mahogany as a suitable wood for furniture.

_Early Georgian_

The eighteenth century in England was the age of the connoisseur and dilettante, and the struggling professional, literary or artistic, had little opportunity except by the favour of a patron. As for instance, Lord Burlington, who is reported to have practised architecture in conjunction with his _protégé_ Kent.

William Kent, born in 1685, died 1748, a painter as well as an architect, was responsible for many designs, among which may be mentioned the Horse Guards in Whitehall, and Holkham in Norfolk for the Earl of Leicester.

Georgian work shows more evidence of French influence, but is invariably stiff and heavy in feeling.

In panelling rooms a surbase or dado was employed. The bolection moulding was universally used round panels.

Doorways and chimneypieces were made up of architraves, surmounted by pediments, and were formal in design and detail. The Greek key was often most unsatisfactorily used in their decoration.

_Chippendale_

Among others, Chippendale’s name is associated with the furniture of this period, and his book of designs, published about the middle of the eighteenth century, contained, besides furniture, suggestions for the complete decoration of rooms. Chippendale was undoubtedly influenced by the Louis XV style, and at one period he attempted to exploit Chinese forms and details.

The chairs designed by him were based on the earlier Queen Anne type, but the vase-shaped back was replaced by pierced and carved interlacing bands and ribbons. For a time the cabriole leg was retained, but

No. 122. A. Transitional Chair, 18th century.
B. Mahogany Sheraton.
C. “ Chippendale.
D. Walnut Hepplewhite.
]

later examples have straight square legs. The chairs were fitted with loose upholstered seats covered with morocco leather.

Furniture was generally in mahogany, which had been introduced a little earlier from the West Indies, and had become popular on account of the colour and figure developed by polishing. Mahogany lends itself to fine mouldings and detail, and this was evidently appreciated, as relief decoration on furniture in this wood received a more restrained treatment, while plain surfaces were made more extensive.

_Mayhew_

Contemporary workers were Mainwaring and Mayhew. Mayhew was responsible for a form of fretwork decoration which is often ascribed to Chippendale.

_Adam Style_

Prominent among his contemporaries, more perhaps for his influence on interior decoration, was Robert Adam, who died at the age of ninety-four in 1792.

A student of the later antique Roman work, and inspired by the remains of Diocletian’s Palace at Spalatro, he evolved a style which bears his name, that was personal and distinctive. A style that had many followers, and which largely influenced the work of Sheraton.

Simple as to structural form, and delicate in detail, it carried on the tradition of the later Graeco-Roman work on which it was founded, avoiding absolute reproduction.

The Adam influence is evident also in the pottery of this period, and in the details of Sheffield plate.

Examples of Robert Adam’s architectural design may be seen in London at the Adelphi, which was built as a speculation, in the Admiralty screen in Whitehall, and houses in Portland Place, W.

Sheffield Plate

18th Centy

No. 125. Adam influence.]

_Hepplewhite_

Hepplewhite also was designing and manufacturing about this time, and is noted principally for his japanned or painted furniture. In this process the wood was first coated with a preparation after the manner of Chinese or Japanese lacquer, and then decorated with fruit and flowers in gold on a background. Subsequently, furniture of this character, instead of being japanned, was merely painted white. Hepplewhite’s chair-backs differ in form from Chippendale’s, being shield or oval shaped.

Satinwood came into use, and much of the work ascribed to Sheraton was made of it.

Painted decoration of a delicate character, the details including ribbons, borders and medallions, was applied to table-tops, harpsichord cases, chair-backs and other objects. The names of Angelica Kauffmann and Cipriani are associated with this form of decoration.

Hepplewhite and Sheraton were apparently influenced by the work of the brothers Adam, which was a distinct departure from the earlier style. The cabriole leg was rarely used, its place being taken by gracefully tapered forms.

_Sheraton_

Although some of Sheraton’s furniture had painted detail, he more often used marqueterie and inlay of fine design.

Panels were treated in marqueterie, with ovals or other simple shapes surrounded by narrow bands or lines of contrasting colour.

Sheraton sideboards were usually without backs, and were sometimes furnished with brass rails on top.

Bookcases had glass doors with well designed and finely worked sash bars.

The general tendency was towards elegance and refinement, and led to simplicity of treatment rather than over enrichment.

Indeed this may be taken as the culminating period for the finest production of furniture, not only with regard to design and exquisite workmanship, but in carefully studied utility. This consideration may be seen in the dressing-tables and secretaires, which were full of ingenious devices, and secret drawers and contrivances for hiding papers and valuables were quite a feature of the work.

_Louis XVI_

Towards the end of the reign of Louis XV there was a distinct change in taste, and consequently in style. This was manifested by a return to simplicity of line,

a more sparing use of enrichments and greater refinement of detail.

Probably the same influence that inspired Adam was at work in France, when the license that marked the Rococo gave place to a more severe and restrained expression in the succeeding Louis XVI style, in which the curvilinear and plastic forms became once more structural in feeling and refined in detail.

Associated with this change was Jacques Gondouin, who died at Paris in 1818 at the age of eighty-one, whose most celebrated work is the Ecole de Médécine. He was also entrusted with the erection of the column in the Place Vendôme.

_Riesener and Gouthière_

The most familiar names associated with the wood-work at the Louis XVI period are Riesener and Gouthière. Riesener is famous for his furniture, and Gouthière for the highly finished chased mounts with which this furniture was decorated.

Interior woodwork was generally of oak, painted white. Pilasters were used, and were either carved or painted in colours. Mouldings were frequently gilt.

Chairs and sofas were, in many instances, painted white and partly gilt. They were upholstered in silk or Beauvais tapestry, the designs of which were in panel form specially made for the purpose.

Cabinets, tables and other pieces of furniture were often exquisitely inlaid with various woods, tulip, rosewood, pear, holly and ebony were the most common, and Sèvres porcelain placques and gilt metal mounts were also used to embellish them.

Furniture supports, such as table and chair legs, were straight, tapered and fluted, with husks in the hollows of the flutes.

Among the decorative details were torches, quivers and other emblems, trophies, musical instruments, bouquets and festoons of flowers, and ribbons with peculiarly square and crisp folds. The laurel leaf was much used in borders, festoons and wreaths.

The style of the Louis XVI period was more severe than the preceding one, and was, in fact, a reaction from the flippancy which characterised the reign of Louis XV. There was a tendency to return to more classic forms, which prepared the way for the still more austere Empire phase which was deliberately based on the Roman and Greek styles.

_Empire_

Furniture was made in mahogany, rosewood and ebony, and was decorated with brass mounts or with carved ornaments, which were gilded.

Furniture legs and supports were fashioned after Greek and Roman forms, human figures and sphinxes being often employed.

Inlay was used of ivory and metal, and this class of work attained a very high degree of excellence.

Metal-work was unquestionably good, except that the details were somewhat hard in character.

The most striking decorative features were sphinxes, winged figures of Liberty, masks, the thyrsus of Bacchus, laurel wreaths and festoons, which were all severe in treatment and delicate in execution.

_Empire in England_

The Empire style spread to other parts of Europe, and was closely imitated in England, where it was chiefly remarkable for the extreme nicety and finish of the metal-work, metal being extensively used for the enrichment of furniture, for clocks, vases, candlesticks, inkstands and other objects.

_Later English Architecture_

Probably the most important name associated with English architecture towards the end of the eighteenth century is that of Sir William Chambers, who died in 1796.

Chambers, who at one time held the position of Surveyor General in the Board of Works, was one of those concerned in the establishment of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. During his professional career he executed commissions in various parts of the country, his principal work being Somerset House, which was commenced in 1776.

Another name associated with this period is that of George Dance, who designed the Mansion House of the City of London, which was built during the years 1739-53. Dance died in 1768, and was succeeded by his son, who was the architect of Newgate Prison, the site of which is now occupied by a modern building.

A pupil of Sir William Chambers, James Gandon, had the distinction of carrying off the first gold medal given for architecture by the newly-founded Royal Academy of Arts in 1768.

He designed, among other works, the Customs House, the Four Courts, and the building which is now the Bank of Ireland, all at Dublin.

_French Influence on Europe_

Throughout this necessarily brief summary it will be noted that attention is mainly given to the architectural development in France and England. The rest of Europe was similarly affected more or less, both in the Gothic period and in the revival known as the Renaissance, in which the initiative was taken by France early in the seventeenth century. From which period may be dated the decline in Italian taste.

French feeling, both as to form and detail, is apparent in not only Dutch and Flemish work, but in the more southern parts of Europe, particularly the phase known as Rococo.

Even in England, though the architectural traditions of Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren became national in character, French feeling is evident in much of the decorative work, as in the designs of Chippendale and his contemporaries; with the exception of the brilliant period of Grinling Gibbons, whose distinctive manner and robust treatment survived, and constituted a school of carving typically English and unique in its artistry and craftsmanship.