In his _Analysis of Beauty_, Hogarth says: “There is scarce a room in any house whatever where one does not see the waving line employed in some way or other. How inelegant would the shape of our movables be without it! How very plain and unornamental the mouldings of cornices and chimney-pieces without the variety introduced by the _ogee_ member, which is entirely composed of waving lines!” The above was printed in 1753, just at the height of the Louis XV. period and the year before Chippendale published his designs. In a few years all that Hogarth so justly admired was destined to pass away, for, as we shall see in the following chapter, the reaction against the graceful and fantastic curve had already begun. LOUIS XVI. PERIOD [Illustration] LOUIS XVI. PERIOD The Louis XVI. style is easily recognizable. In every kind of furniture whether viewed from the full face or profile, the straight line strikes the eye. It is everywhere, in all the uprights, in the leg and backs of tables and chairs, and parallel lines are close together. Another striking object is a peculiarly slender oval that appears in medallions and vases and all kinds of ornaments. Oval medallions are to be met with on panels and wood marquetry in light tints. These medallions, in which the favourite device is a basket of flowers, are surrounded by a frame, or border, of a straight row of eggs, itself bordered within by a row of pearls. At the top of the medallion is a knot or bow of ribbon, from which falls on either side a little bunch of flowers. The indications of the coming Louis XVI. style really began between 1745 and 1750, and developed at the same time that the rococo was in full flower. The discoveries made in Pompeii and Herculaneum are responsible for the enthusiasm of certain masters of decoration for the straight line and the regular forms of Greek art. Madame de Pompadour greatly favoured this new style.