Louis XV style

The style of Louis XV developed exclusively in the second quarter of the 18th century (from about 1730 to 1760 ). He already begins to guess in the Regency Style and, after its completion, continues to be seen in the following eras, but already, mainly in the provinces. This style falls on the reign of Louis XV (1723-1774), while it only partially coincides with the long period of his reign (1715-1774). It can be characterized by the highest degree of craftsmanship in the manufacture of objects and by combining the art of making furniture, painting and sculpture . Having been very original for its era, the second wave of this style is recognized in furniture produced at the end of the 19th century.

Over the next period, called the Transitional Style , the smooth waves of Louis XV style gradually began to give way to the stately stiffness of Louis XVI Style .

The style of Louis XV replaced the Regency Style , in which the first attempts were made to gradually abandon the influence of French classicism and Italian baroque.

Louis XV , who ascended the throne at the age of 5 years in 1715 after the death of his great-grandfather Louis XIV , was declared an adult on the threshold of his 14th birthday in 1723 , and at the same time the regency of his cousin Philip, Duke of Orleans , ceased. The king, and mainly his wife, Maria Leshchinsky , surrounded themselves with artists, artists and artisans in order to develop their Court. The luxurious life lasted until 1760 - the year when the style is considered to have died out - due to numerous mourning events that saddened the last years of the monarch's life (in 1752 and 1759 his two oldest daughters died, his grandson and heir died in 1761, in 1763 his granddaughter, the wife of the future emperor, passed away, his favorite Madame de Pompadour died in 1764, Dauphin died in 1765, Dauphin died in 1767, and the Queen died in 1768).

Key Features

Thanks to the improvement of the assembly technique and strong wood species, it became possible to abandon the transverse ribs, lighten the frames and dare to use curved legs ^[1] .

Louis XV style can be called feminine:

• it is particularly lightweight; unlike Louis XIV Style , where the setting should radiate authority and inspire reverence, the setting of Louis XV is charming, elegant, light and hints more at relaxation and court trifles, rather than formal solemnity.
• these furnishings were ordered most often by women or for women, since they really occupied an important place at court and their opinion was of great importance in matters of choosing a decor.

This style is characterized by a desire for intimacy and convenience. The rooms become smaller and warmer, the ceilings are lower, the wooden panels of the cladding are painted in warmer and softer shades (pink, cream, pastel colors).

In the era of this style appeared:

• We see how arched legs appear (known as the “Louis XV leg”), which are an evolution of legs in the form of animal paws, but now the legs of a doe or lion are already taking on the model.
• For the first time since the medieval style, we see the return of asymmetry. Small dressers often become asymmetrical, but always balanced; a look at these objects causes a flight of fancy, instead of a desire to ask questions.
• Attention is paid more to the decor than the practicality of the form, for example, in the case of a chest of drawers, bronze jewelry moves from one drawer to another to hide the joint between them.
• The furniture is created with the expectation that it will stand anywhere in the room, and not just around the periphery, as we observe in the Palace of Versailles . Therefore, the reverse side of the backs is made more carefully.
• The seat rim becomes more curved and, for the first time, raised.
• There are backs in the form of a violin and backs-cabriole (curved in the plane), designed for chairs placed in the middle of the rooms, and chairs placed along the walls always had the back of the queen (straight in the plane), regardless of whether they were made in the form of a violin or not.

Ornamentation and decoration

The era of ornamentalists has come - a new profession preceding the appearance of decorators and designers: they are interested in the entire interior design project, starting with paneling of walls, marble plaster, paintings, and ending with furniture and chandeliers.

Louis XV style furniture is often decorated with bronze Rococo motifs.

At first, they refused wooden mosaics or marquetries , preferring curls where the beauty of a cut of wood prevails ( amaranth , snake tree, rosewood and violin tree); but starting from 1745, the fashion for wooden mosaic returns and we see the image of bouquets of flowers and / or musical instruments (for the decor of the courtyard), very colorful and carefully crafted.

Bronze elements, as a rule, are expertly minted with mercury gilding and combined with the pattern of wooden decor panels (handles, fringe strips and other accessories), now allowing to display any representatives of the water world (shells, foliage elements, acanthus, reeds), while shells that appeared in the era of the Regency are cut out in a semicircle and are smoothed.

Chairs are upholstered in flowery silk and increasingly are completely covered with gilding .

Furniture is increasingly being coated with protective varnish, which is delivered from the Far East. The desire to imitate such varnishes caused the appearance of European varnishes.

Louis XV style furniture

Furnishings contain exclusively small furniture.

The following furniture is mainly produced:

• small chests of drawers with two drawers and hidden rungs;
• small tables or serving tables;
• armchairs and chairs of all kinds;
• gaming tables.

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  Bouncing chest

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  King's Secretary or Bureau Cylinder

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  Armchair Louis XV

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  Maria Louise of Parma in front of Folio

First- Furniture

• Chairs are made either with a straight and flat back, which was called the Queen’s back, or with a concave back, which was called the Cabriole, with a variety of carved recesses
• Canape (ottoman)
• Berger (recliner), suitable for ladies in dresses with panniers (whalebone frame), having a pillow and upholstered in luxurious silk with patterns of Chinese ornament and flowers
• Slanted secretary, which will soon give way to the secretary cylinder
• Bookcase
• Dressing table
• Bed in Polish: two backs, onto which four curtains of drapery descend, diverging in the corners. Bed in Turkish: three backs, one of which is adjacent to the wall.

In frame furniture, oak begins to be massively used, and it gradually replaces the spruce , which was used in the era of Louis XIV style .

Veneer cladding is becoming more diverse to expand the range of color shades. Masters refuse ebony , preferring wood species more sparkling and cast in different shades: rosewood and violin wood (furniture veneered by these two species seems dull today; the reason is only in age, its original shade was very expressive), rosewood , boxwood , pear (tinted or natural), plum .

As for chairs and armchairs, they were often made of massive types of wood, including beech , walnut , cherry and mahogany (even though it is not suitable for chairs because of its fragility). Chairs are often fully painted or gilded.

New forms required the appearance of new tools and equipment: a planer for curved surfaces was invented, which made it possible to make legs and panels with a rounded contour (this is the last tool invented in cabinet makers).

A new method was invented for attaching curved plywood, which, incidentally, has bends in two planes and therefore it was impossible to use flat plywood.

In terms of chairs and armchairs, the weaving technique remains the most comfortable for sitting in this era, however, for aesthetic reasons, they often preferred to fill the seats with horsehair and young deer hair (springs will appear under the upholstery only at the beginning of the 19th century).

In France, the most typical works for this style belong to the masters of art furniture, including Nicolas Erto , Leba, Potier, Nadal, Pluvine , Folio , Claude Senet , Jean Baptiste Tillard , Louis Delannoy .

Among the French cabinetmakers of this period there are those who began their work back in the era of the Regency, for example, Charles Cressant . But new names appeared - Jacques Dubois , Garnier, Nicolas Petit , Adrien Delorm. Also in France during this period, many foreign masters worked, of which the most famous are Jean-Francois Eben (author of the secretary of Louis XV), BVRB ( Bernard van Riesenburg ), Roger Vandercruise (known as Lacroix), Kemp, Baumbauer.

The most prominent artists of this period were Just-Aurel Messonier , Francois Boucher , Jean-Baptiste Hue , Jean-Baptiste Leprens , Pierre IV Mizhon and the Van Loo family: Jean Baptiste Van Loo , Louis Michel Van Loo , Charles Amedei Philippe Van Loo and Charles Andre Van Van Loo . However, the listing of artists of this period will be incomplete, without mentioning one of the main patrons, the favorite of King Madame de Pompadour .

• The decoration in 1735 of the Oval Salon of the Hotel Subiz by Germain Boffrand (1667-1754) in the Rococo style .

• Rococo
• Louis XV Secretary Cylinder
• Furniture style Cabriole
• Canapes

• Louis XIII style
• Louis XVI style

Links

• Portal of Architecture and History - Louis XV Style (link not available)