The Napoleon III style (1852-1870)

An era of decadence, the Second Empire (1852-1870) sought to impose prestige prestige through pomp, festivities and luxury, in contrast to the bourgeois reign of the discreet Louis-Philippe. The Napoleon III style is the last to bear the name the name of a sovereign, that of Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, first elected president by universal male suffrage, then prince-president before being crowned emperor in December 1852.

Considered eclectic, this style is based on a revival of styles styles of the past. Everything is borrowed from the styles that preceded it. At draw their inspiration from a single era, cabinetmakers and decorators of the of Second Empire drew indiscriminately, with joyful exuberance, from all sources.

This mixture of styles manifests itself in the decorative arts not successively but simultaneously. The result is a richness, an abundance, an eclecticism that is sometimes excessive but which gives an impression of research and fertility.

PASTICHES AND NOSTALGIA

Pair of ewers in the Renaissance style (left)

Pair of Louis XVI style marble cassolettes (right)

This taste for l' historicism takes on the forms of all periods. From Louis XIII from Louis XIV, Boulle furniture with its brass and tortoiseshell marquetry Boulle furniture with its brass and tortoiseshell marquetry, sometimes replaced by with stained leather or dark wood, from Louis XV, rococo curves, and Louis XVI, fluted legs finer than the originals. The work of Viollet le Duc also brought the Middle Ages back into fashion. Reference to earlier styles became the rule.

Cylinder desk after Riesener attributed to Beurdeley

These numerous copies or adaptations of 18th century furniture, come with a desire to refurbish the national palaces: the Tuileries, Saint-Cloud, Compiègne, etc. The Garde-Meuble impérial bought back old furniture which were put up for sale to refurnish the royal houses.

TheEmpress Eugenie played a major role in this historicist craze. She particularly Louis XVI styles because of her admiration for the character of Marie-Antoinette. The crown commissioned rigorous copies of antique furniture by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806), notably Louis XV's secrétaire à cylindre in the Château de Versailles. On the other hand, the Grohé brothers created a set to furnish the Galerie François Ier, and Jeanselme, who had taken over the Jacob firm, made eighteenth-century armchairs for the Château de Saint-Cloud. The style is even referred to as "Louis XVI - Empress". The pastiche specialists are Louis-Auguste-Alfred Beurdeley (1808-1882), Alexandre-Georges Fourdinois (1799-1871) and Henri Dasson (1825-1896).

Pair of Louis XVI style consoles stamped Guillaume Grohe

But this return to styles is done for political purposes. By returning to the forms of the Ancien Régime, the Second Empire identifies with this court and with the established royalty, which gives it a certain legitimacy. By reorganising French industries, Napoleon III gave a new impetus to the decorative arts that transformed production.

FURNITURE, A REFLECTION OF A CHANGING SOCIETY

At the same time, the bourgeoisie, the dominant class of the mid-19th century, sought a certain comfort, with a multiplicity of small pieces of furniture within easy reach. We a desire for an intimate, welcoming decor with functional features: rag stands, secretary, games table, pedestal tables. New categories of furniture light, easy-to-move furniture were created: nesting tables tilting pedestal tables, the charivari chair and a host of velvet or brocade upholstered velvet or brocade, usually red, with braided bangs to hide the wood to hide the wood (confident, boudeuses, bornes, poufs...).

Napoleon III period sideboard in blackened wood and gilt bronze

We're fond of pomp and wealth with a taste for contrast that gives the appearance of luxury. The ebony or blackened pearwood furniture is adorned with gilded bronzes marble and Boulle-type Boulle-type marquetry with red scales. Theinlay precious woods, mother-of-pearl, ivory and brass flourished thanks to the which enabled them to be cut with extreme finesse. This enabled precision and perfect appearance, unlike 18th-century furniture 18th-century furniture, which shows tool marks. For example, the Rivart developed an incredible porcelain marquetry inlaid into the veneer furniture.

Detail of a Boulle marquetry game table, Napoleon III period

Increasingly large-scale production is favoured by the mechanisation of the craftsmen's workshops. There is a will to reduce costs in order to make fashion more accessible to the bourgeoisie fond of multiple inspirations. This division of labour can explain the lack of innovation in forms.

However, the Exposition Universelle in Paris from 1855 onwards led to new thinking on the status of the decorative arts. the status of the decorative arts. Manufacturers were determined to elevate them to the status art by designing furniture as works of art. This led to to the increasingly frequent appearance of stamped signatures on the invisible faces of faces of furniture. Such is the case with our Louis XVI chests of drawers stamped GROHE under the marble top.

Stamped by Grohé under the marble of a Louis XVI-style chest of drawers.

NEW TECHNIQUES

One of the distinctive features of the Napoleon III, which stands out for its originality, is the use of papier-mâché mâché with a black background. Originating in England, this technique relies on an amalgam of paper amalgam of paper, glue and plaster, heat-solidified and molded. This material, then as hard as wood is then varnished, lacquered and decorated. This process, often often inlaid with mother-of-pearl, was adopted by French furniture makers from 1860 onwards.

Detail of "burgauté" marquetry on a tilting pedestal table in wood and lacquered cardboard

It was then that the fashion for " burgauté " furniture spread. their pearly ornamentation from a shell called a burgau, whose interior is lined with pearly surfaces, iridescent with blue, green and purple reflections. This technique, already used for the King of Rome's cradle, donated by the City of Paris in 1811 and now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, was completely rethought to suit new tastes. Furniture and seating burgundy " furniture and seating is one of the of the Napoleon III Napoleon III style.

CONCLUSION

When Charles Garnier presented the Opéra Garnier project to Garnier to Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, the emperor was quoted as saying, "It's not gothic, it's not Renaissance, it's not classical, but what style is it? is it?" To which the architect is said to have replied "Napoléon III". Perhaps he was right in asserting that this style actually had its own identity, perfectly recognizable despite its many quotations.

Bibliography

- French furniture, Napoleon III 1880s, Odile Nouvel Kammerer, 1996

- Recognizing stylish furniture, Pierre Faveton, 2014

- Le guide des styles, Musée des arts décoratifs, Jean-Pierre Constant, Marco Mencacci, 2018