French and English furniture : $b distinctive styles and periods described and illustratedSingleton, Esther
History
French and English furniture : $b distinctive styles and periods described and illustrated
Singleton, Esther
Furniture -- England; Furniture -- France
The list of artists who contributed to interior decorations during the
Louis XV. period is a long one. It includes: Boffrand, Le Roux, Oudry,
Brisseux, Huquier, Pineau, Mondon, Cuvilliés, Gravelot, Boucher,
Blondel, Babel, Germain, Marvye, Chedel, Jombert, Babin, Cochin,
Pillement, Peyrotte, Eisen, Demarteau and Martinet. These are the great
masters of the style. The principal smaller ones are: Aubert, Crepy,
Vassy, Bachelier, Roumier, Vervien, Caylus, Lassurance, Lange, La
Collombe, Dubois, Bouchardon, Prevost, Le Grand, Fraisse, Blanchard,
Marsenois, De La Cour, Canuc, Poulleau, Mollet, Mansart, De Jouy,
Perault, Dumont, Aveline, Cornille, Chamblin, Bellay, Vanerve,
Pelletier, Paty, Chopart, Borch, La Datte, Lamour, Girard, Ballechou,
Herisset, Hubert, Metayer, Servandoni, Sloiste, Caque, L’Hermitais, Roy,
Duval, François, Charpentier, Lebas, Radel, De Lorme, Courtelle,
Viriclix, Tessier, Lattre, De Laborde and Harpin.
[Illustration: PLATE XXX]
One of the cabinet-makers who best produced the ideas of Meissonier was
Jacques Caffieri (b. 1678), who was “_sculpteur, fondeur et ciseleur du
roi_.” Even if he did not himself manufacture, he directed the
production of splendid cabinet-work. His work is distinguished by grace
and aristocratic elegance. He executed a great quantity of bronze for
the famous cabinet-maker, Œben. Many extant works bear the mark of a C
surmounted by a _fleur-de-lis_, and these are usually attributed to this
master, but the great inequality of excellence makes many critics
doubtful. Œben was a pupil of Boulle, and devoted himself exclusively to
the branch of marquetry in cabinet-making, leaving the metal decoration
to his assistants, Caffieri and Duplessis. His work was in the greatest
favour with Madame de Pompadour, who bought it through the merchant
Duvaux, one of whose best customers was the king himself. Œben died
about 1756, and his works helped to furnish all the mansions and castles
of the _Marquise_ and King in Paris, Fontainebleau, Compiégne,
Versailles, Bellevue, Crécy, Champs, Saint-Ouen, and la Celle
Saint-Cloud. His widow married his foreman, J. Henri Riesener. The other
great cabinet-makers of this period whose works are to be found in the
Rothschild, Wallace, South Kensington, and other famous collections, are
Bernard, Boudin, Ollivier, Dubois and Cremer, who worked principally in
artificially coloured marquetry, and Gamier, Pafrat and Roubo. The
latter wrote a very valuable treatise called _L’Art du menuisier_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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