The Revival styles
19th Century
History and Illustrations
With their taste for the classical, designers were turning to other historical sources then only Greek and Roman influence for inspiration. Whether borrowed from the designs of the Middle Ages, the Bourbon courts, or the Ottoman Empire, styles of the past were being widely reinterpreted by 19th-century designers.
By the end of the first quarter of the 19th century, America was feeling the powerful effects of the Industrial Revolution. While some furniture manufacturers, such as Phyfe and Allison, had already begun to use machinery and the assembly-line technique, by 1825 it was possible to make nearly the entire frame for a piece of furniture by machine. As a result, the time-honored pride in craftsmanship began to decline in favor of mass production. The increasing demand for comfort influenced the design of furniture and stimulated more elaborate tufted upholstery. Although many designers and furniture manufacturers of the 19th century were convinced they were actually making replicas of antique furniture by carefully following the lines of earlier models, a close look will generally distinguish the 19th-century piece from the earlier prototype.
Gothic and Elizabethan Revival
(1825-1865)
The Gothic Revival style was rooted in England, where medieval elements had never altogether disappeared from the architectural vocabulary. In the 17th century, William Kent applied Gothic as well as classical motifs to Baroque furniture forms, and a number of designs in Thomas Chippendales Director showed Gothic influence. The style again appeared in Smiths Household Furniture (1808), along with numerous pieces designed in the classical taste. The pieces in Smiths publication applied Gothic architectural ornamentation to contemporary furniture forms; they did not actually imitate Gothic furniture, about which very little was then known.
In America, the Gothic style never achieved the same degree of popularity that it had in England. The Gothic style was associated with the church, and it was principally used in great houses designed by important architects. One of the chief exponents of American Gothic style, for example, was the prominent architect Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892). Of the American furniture surviving in the style, much was designed by architects for specific buildings, and these pieces tend to reiterate the similar architectural details: pointed and lancet arches, trefoil and quatrefoil rosettes, heraldic devices, crockets, finials, and tracery. The earliest of the Gothic-influenced furniture delicately incorporated this architectural vocabulary into classical forms. The first American design book to illustrate Gothic furniture in America was the Cabinet Maker's Assistant (1842) by Robert Conner, an English-born cabinetmaker and designer.
The Elizabethan Revival style was closely related to the Gothic, for both relied largely on openwork surfaces and the play of light through their openings. In fact, the term Elizabethan is a misnomer for this style -although it was so-called in the 19th century -because it was actually inspired by the design vocabulary of the eras of Charles I (1626-1649) and Charles H. (1660-1685), rather than that of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Chief ingredients of the Elizabethan style included Baroque turnings with the characteristic spiral and ball -details derived from the designs of French architectural designer Daniel Marot (1660?-1712). Hall chairs and prie dieux were often conceived in this style.
In the United States, the Elizabethan style was applied chiefly to simple mass-produced cottage furniture, highly advocated for country residences by tastemakers because it was practical, attractive, and inexpensive. In these pieces, the spiral twist was reduced to a simple ball- or spool-turned straight member. Generally made of cheap softwood, mass-produced Elizabethan-style furniture was painted and decorated in various colors and could be fitted with marble tops if desired. Its floral and scroll decoration announced the coming of another popular revival style: the Rococo.
Rococo Revival
(1845-1900)
The Rococo Revival or "French Antique" style was popular in Paris and London as early as 1840; numerous design books illustrating it appeared in both cities and were circulated in America. From the 1840s through the end of the century, Rococo was the most popular furniture style in the United States. (Indeed, Rococo furniture has never ceased being made, and some factories still produce versions of it today.) Its inspiration was the style of the court of Louis XV, and its chief features included the cabriole leg, shell and other fanciful carvings, curved surfaces, and a profuse use of delicate S- and C-scrolls. Since the curved line had never totally disappeared from the design repertory, Rococo was, in a sense, an exaggeration of previous styles. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to distinguish this 19th-century style from its 18th-century antecedent: lines tend to become
heavier, the cabriole leg is less delicate (sometimes terminating in an S-scroll toe); and the rear leg is chamfered at its base to give a sense of solidity. Heaviness is also evident in the elaborate scrolls that display the naturalistic carving of birds, fruit, flowers, and so on.
The cost of Rococo furniture depended on the amount of carving on the piece; the least expensive was the simple "finger-rolled" carving. Walnut was a popular wood for inexpensive pieces of Rococo furniture, while rosewood was reserved for the more costly. The Industrial Revolution made it possible to produce furniture of this type, including even the carving, completely by machine, and the most popular forms were the parlor sets, which included a sofa and arm and side chairs.
The most common chair form was the side chair with a "balloon back", named for its resemblance to the shape of a hot-air balloon. A variant of the balloon back had upholstery stretched over the wooden frame, and the form was sometimes expanded to create a triple-crested sofa with deep and undulating lines, a unique creation of 19th-century design.
The most famous cabinetmaker associated with the American Rococo Revival style was John Henry Belter (1804-1863).
Louis XVI Revival
(1860-1890)
A style related to the Rococo was the Louis XVI Revival style, but it was not as popular, possibly because it was generally massive and busy. Reintroducing symmetrical form, Louis XIV furniture was generally reserved for case pieces with such motifs as heroic figures, broken pediments, geometric detail, and naturalistic garlands. Louis XIV sideboards seemed to drip flowers, fruit, and trophies of game.
The beginnings of the Louis XVI Revival style date to the 1850s, when Empress Eugenie of France began to restore the private apartments of the palaces of the Toiletries and St. Cloud. The style reintroduced a formal classicism with oval backs, straight stiles, arm supports, and legs. Delicate classical motifs were inlaid and porcelain plaques and ormolu medallions became a part of the vocabulary. Ebonized frames became popular, and Abusing or other French fabrics were used for upholstery.
By the 1860s, the style was popular in the eastern United States. Jellify in Newark, New Jersey, and Heckles in Philadelphia
began to produce pieces in the Louis XVI style. New York, however, became the chief center for the style, and cabinetmakers such as Christian and Gustave Herter, Alexander Roux, Leon Marcotte, Szypher firm, and Thomas Brooks excelled in its production. The style was popular into the 1880s and 1890s.
Renaissance Revival
(1860-1885)
The last half of the 19th century saw an even further expansion of revivalism to incorporate other historical periods as well. By then, virtually every period had been tapped for inspiration, and occasionally designs from different sources were even incorporated into a single piece. Novelty was the watchword as designers vied to produce even more elaborate and showy pieces.
Emerging in popularity at around the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), the Renaissance Revival style had been referred to by writers earlier than 1850; it was mentioned by architect Alexander Jackson Downing in that year as well. Inspired by Renaissance architecture, this style was characterized by massive, square, architectural forms, broken pediments, applied medallions, acorn trim, and tapering baluster-turned legs.
Victorian Renaissance or Neo-Grec
(1860-1880)
LOUIS XVI design, reintroduced during the 1860s, eventually merged with the Renaissance Revival style to create still another revival style which was introduced by the Paris- and New York-based firm of Ringuet, Le Prince, & Marcotte. Their pieces followed late 18th-century stylistic precedents and led to a fashion that the French called the Neo-Grec style. This style is often called Victorian Renaissance to distinguish it from the more ponderous true Renaissance style. In this style, classical ornaments were introduced in ormolu and other metalwork, porcelain terra cotta, and mother-of-pearl plaques.
Colonial Revival
(1875-1910)
It became fashionable to collect antiques during the 1870s. Not only the wealthy but also the middle class adopted this pursuit when they were advised that old Japanese screens and Spanish chairs could do much to improve their interiors. Simultaneously, a revival of interest in the furniture of America's colonial past developed. At the Philadelphia Centennial
Exhibition of 1876, for example, interest focused on the past, and one particularly popular display featured a colonial kitchen and a set of furniture made from one of the oldest trees in Philadelphia. This exhibition stimulated a zeal for collecting old pieces of American furniture and also sparked the creation of antique reproduction pieces.
In hindsight, it is easy to see that 17th- and 18th-century furniture, as well as Federal and Empire pieces, were all indiscriminately regarded as "colonial". Many reproductions of such furniture were made in the latter years of the 19th century. Some of this reproduction furniture was so well made, in fact, that today it is often difficult to distinguish these pieces from
the originals.
Exotic and Eclectic
(1885-1910)
A fascinating style of the late 1880s and 1890s resulted from the renewed interest in Orientalism and exoticism. In fact, during most of the century, there existed an affection for Islamic (Moorish or Saracenic) designs, but this was combined, by the end of the century, with a taste for varied influences to create highly exotic furniture best described by the term eclectic.
Eclecticism and confusion of design source typified revival furniture at the end of the 19th century. By this time, much American furniture was mechanically produced, and even so-called "custom-built" pieces were created by machine, enabling these eclectic pieces to be circulated widely. At the same time, great architectural firms dominated New York fashion with their preference for European design. Furniture shown at the Chicago Columbian Exhibition in 1893 revealed the state of American furniture: in the catalogue, endless revival styles were represented, from a hopelessly debased version of the classical revival to the most eclectic trends. In some instances, in fact, the styles were so completely mixed within a single piece that it is virtually impossible to distinguish the original design inspiration.
More Antique furniture styles:
