The Dutch Craftsmen in the Employ of Louis XIV—Huguenot Emigration—Marot—The Sopha—Upholstery—The Bed—Chairs—Sconces—Tables—Rooms—English and Dutch Alliances—Hampton Court—Queen Mary—Looking-glasses—Chandeliers—Chimney-pieces—The style refugié—John Hervey’s Purchases—Oriental Furniture manufactured after European Patterns—Complaints of Home Manufacturers—Trade with the Indies—“Prince Butler’s Tale”—Enormous Importations—Imported Textiles—Foreign Textiles for Upholstery.
The last designer of furniture of any importance that has hitherto demanded attention is Crispin van de Passe. The next one is also a Dutchman. It is noticeable that the arts and crafts of France and England were always deeply affected by the activities of the Low Countries. France, even during the reign of Louis XIV, owed much to Dutch culture and energy. Boulle, who was of Dutch extraction (see page [115]), gave his name to a special kind of furniture which he developed and elaborated.
Another name famous in Decorative Art was that of Cander Jean Oppenordt, born in Guelderland in 1639. He emigrated to Paris to seek his fortune, and became “ébéniste du Roi,” was naturalized in 1679, and allowed a lodging in the Louvre in 1684. To him was given the charge of furnishing the Palace of Versailles, and in 1688 he made some beautiful marquetry furniture for the Duke of Burgundy. His son, Gilles Marie Oppenord (1672–1742), was architect to the Duke of Orleans.
France owed much to Italy, Belgium and Holland during the first half of the seventeenth century, but what she borrowed she repaid with interest. In 1685, the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes induced fifty thousand families of the best French blood, intellect, art, culture and craftsmanship to seek voluntary exile. The Huguenots took refuge from the Dragonnades in England, Holland and Germany; and those countries benefited by the short-sighted policy of a bigoted king. So many goldsmiths, carvers, architects, designers and artists were among the emigrants that their subsequent work in the art world came to be known as the style refugié.
Undoubtedly the most commanding figure in this band was Daniel Marot. He was a member of a family of eminent French artists. He was a pupil of Lepautre, who for many years worked at the Gobelins manufactory and dominated the first period of the Louis XIV style. This style was particularly majestic, pompous and heavy, the general forms consisting of a mixture of the straight line and curve, and broad surfaces adapted for decoration. The heavy straining-rail and pilaster as a support are also characteristic. The ornaments consist of Roman and heroic trophies of antiquity, helmets, cuirasses, casques, plumes, swords, shields, laurel-wreaths and clubs, winged Victories, the elliptical cartouche, river gods leaning on urns, large cornucopias, heavy garlands, or swags, of fruit and leaves, the broad acanthus leaf, the mascaron, the swelling scroll, and the combination of scroll and shell. Lepautre was also fond of introducing the alcove into a room.
Fig. 39.—Screen in the style refugié.
A typical screen of this period is shown in Fig. 39. The massiveness and boldness of curve of the lines of the frame are characteristic of the artists of the Louis XIV period who formed the style refugié; and the grace and fancy of the design in the tapestry filling are worthy of more than passing consideration. The Chinoiserie influence is already apparent in the small hanging canopy.
At this date the sopha was greatly in vogue. This was really nothing more than the old settle with carved framework, and richly upholstered. It rarely accommodated more than two persons, and, as a rule, only one is shown sitting upon it. The legs and straining-rail followed the general lines and decoration of those of the stands for cabinets, toilet-tables, etc. The arms were sometimes solid or stuffed, and sometimes open-work covered with velvet or other textiles. Sometimes the sopha is furnished with a bolster at both ends. Typical forms are shown in Figs. 40, 41 and 42.
Although Marot was well acquainted with porcelain and Eastern wares in France, he found the prevailing taste much more extravagant when he took refuge in Holland. There he became the supreme exponent of the style refugié. William of Orange appointed him his chief architect and minister of works, and Marot accompanied him to England at the Glorious Revolution a couple of years later. In Holland, he designed much interior work for palaces and noblemen’s seats, including staircases, panelling, chimney-pieces, cornices, china-shelves and brackets, and all kinds of domestic furniture. He was also extremely prolific in designs for sumptuous upholstery in velvet, worsted and other textiles for chairs, screens, hangings, curtains, bed-heads, etc. Marot died in 1718; and his published works of Decorative Art include many hundred designs representative of that period immediately preceding the Regency, known in England as “William and Mary” and “Queen Anne.”