28o 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
November, iqio 
the mantels, with panels above 
reaching to the cornice or cove 
of the ceiling, and large mir¬ 
rors were also used over con¬ 
sole tables and as panels. The 
paneled overdoors reached to 
the cornice, and windows were 
also treated in this way. Win¬ 
dows and doors were not 
looked upon merely as open¬ 
ings to admit air and light and 
human beings, but formed a 
part of the scheme of decora¬ 
tion of the room. • There were 
beautiful brackets and candela¬ 
bra of ormolu to light the 
rooms, and the boudoirs and 
salons, with their white and 
gold and beautifully decorated 
walls and gilded furniture, 
gave an air of gaiety and rich¬ 
ness, extravagance and beauty. 
An apartment in the time 
of Louis XV usually had a 
vestibule, rather severely deco¬ 
rated with columns or pilasters 
and often statues in niches. 
The first ante-room was a 
waiting-room for servants and 
was plainly treated, the wood¬ 
work being the chief decora¬ 
tion. The second ante-room 
had mirrors, console tables, 
carved and gilded woodwork, 
and sometimes tapestry was 
used above a wainscot. Din¬ 
ing-rooms were elaborate, of¬ 
ten having fountains and plants 
in the niches near the buffet. 
Bedrooms usually had an alcove, and the room, not counting the 
alcove, was an exact square. The bed faced the windows and 
a large mirror over a console table was just opposite it. The 
chimney faced the principle entrance. A 
“cliambre en niche” was a room where the 
bed space was not so large as an alcove. 
The designs for sides of rooms by Meis- 
sonnier, Blondel, Briseux, Cuilles and 
others give a good idea of the arrange¬ 
ment and proportions of the different 
rooms. The cabinets or studies, and the 
garde robes or wardrobes, were entered 
usually from doors near the alcove. The 
ceilings were painted by Boucher and 
others in soft and charming cdlors, with 
cupids playing in the clouds, and subjects 
of that kind. Great attention was given 
to clocks and they formed an important 
and beautiful part in the decoration of 
the room. 
There is much in the style of Louis 
XV that is beautiful and truly artistic, 
but the period of excessive rococo was 
often in the worst of taste, with its super¬ 
abundance of curves and ornament, and 
the natural consequence was that, during 
the last years of Louis’s reign, the reac¬ 
tion slowly began to make itself felt. 
There was no sudden change 
to the use of the straight line, 
but people were tired of so 
much lavishness and motion in 
their decoration, and the more 
sober influence of the Dauphin 
and Marie Antoinette made it¬ 
self felt. Marie Antoinette 
disliked the great pomp of 
court functions and liked to 
play at the simple life, so shep¬ 
herdesses, shepherd’s crooks, 
hats, wreaths of roses, water¬ 
ing-pots and many other rustic 
symbols became the fashion. 
Architecture became more sim¬ 
ple and interior decoration fol¬ 
lowed suit. The restfulness 
and beauty of the straight line 
appeared again, and ornament 
took its proper place as a dec¬ 
oration of the construction, 
and was subordinate to its de¬ 
sign. The influence of the 
discoveries of Herculaneum 
and Pompeii, although made 
many years before the reign of 
Louis XVI, appeared in many 
of the wall decorations and 
ornaments of the time. The 
beautiful little boudoir of the 
Marquise de Serilly is an ex¬ 
ample of its adaptation. 
During the period of Louis 
XVI the rooms had rectangu¬ 
lar panels formed by simpler 
moldings than in the previous 
reign, with pilasters of delicate 
design between the panels. The 
overdoors and mantels were carried to the cornice and the pan¬ 
eling was usually of oak, painted in soft colors or white and 
gilded. Walls were also covered with tapestry and brocade. 
Some of the most characteristic marks 
of the style are the straight tapering legs 
of the furniture, usually fluted, with 
some carving. Fluted columns and pilas¬ 
ters often had metal quills filling them 
for a part of the distance at top and 
bottom, leaving a plain channel between. 
The laurel leaf was used in wreath form, 
and bell flowers were used on the legs 
of furniture. Oval medallions, sur¬ 
mounted by a wreath of flowers and 
a bow-knot, appear very often, and in 
about 1780 round medallions were used. 
Furniture was covered with brocade or 
tapestry, with shepherds and shepher¬ 
desses or pastoral scenes for the design. 
The gayest kinds of designs were used 
in the silks and brocades; ribbons and 
bow-knots and interlacing stripes with 
flowers and rustic symbols scattered over 
them. Curtains were less festooned and 
cut with great exactness. The canopies 
of beds became smaller, until often only 
a ring or crown held the draperies, and 
(Continued on page 322.) 
A corner of Marie Antoinette’s boudoir at Fontainebleau. The 
decorated panels show the influence of Pompeii and Herculaneum. 
Greater restraint characterizes the period of Louis XVI 
A pronounced massiveness and a change in 
colors from the light gay ones to deep 
browns, blues, etc., are distinguishing char¬ 
acteristics of the Empire style, together 
with a great deal of metal ornament 
