In France, the older Harpsichord and the later Pianoforte have followed the different styles which have affected the decorative furniture of that country, and the same remark applies to the more limited productions of such instruments in other countries.
During the period of had taste which prevailed in England thirty or forty years ago, those who made and those who purchased pianos were content to have either the instrument in the most ordinary and commonplace case of mahogany, walnut, or the rosewood which about 1840 came into great favour, or else the cases were designed in an extravagant fashion, and covered with a superabundance of ornament, quite out of keeping with the use of a musical instrument.
Two illustrations in Chapter IX., one of Broadwood's Grand, and the other of an upright in Bottle's style of work, by Leistler, of Vienna, may be taken as the most favourable examples of pinaoforte decorations at the time of the 1851 Exhibition.
Latterly there has been amongst leading manufacturers, especially those of our own country, a marked improvement, and the cases are made of rare and carefully chosen woods, and the style adapted, in many instances to the furniture of the room. Sir Alma Tadema designed cases in the Byzantine style. Mr. Burne-Jones painted one with an elaborate design of figures and scrolls; another with a shower of roses right across the sounding board, and he also revived the old-fashioned trestle support, formerly used for harpsichords. Mr. Waterhouse, R.A., Mr. John Birnie Philip, who executed the podium of the Albert Memorial, Mr. T. G. Jackson, R.A., and others, have also designed piano cases for friends and clients.
In the "Inventions" Exhibition, a few years since, there was a very good opportunity of noticing the advance in design of the Pianoforte. In nearly every instance the old fashioned fretwork front had been abandoned for a painting or a marquetry panel. Some were enamelled white, and relieved by gilding; others had a kind of gesso-work decoration, and the different fashionable styles of furniture were reproduced with various modifications. Amongst others, Kirkmans exhibited a grand and an upright made from designs by Col. Edis, and Hopkinson a boudoir grand and some small cottage pianos in satinwood and marquetry, and also in satinwood painted in the old English style, and having silk panels in front with copies of Bartolozzi prints. The designs were in the latter case made by the author. Broadwoods, and other English firms, also produced special designs.
Since this Exhibition, if there has not been improvement, there has been endless variety, and the piano case is now designed and decorated to please the taste of the most fastidious or the most eccentric.
