Empire style

The Empire style is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 during the Consulate and the First French Empire periods, although its life span lasted until the late 1820s (or more in some countries). From France it spread into much of Europe and the United States.

The style originated in and takes its name from the rule of the Emperor Napoleon I in the First French Empire, when it was intended to idealize Napoleon’s leadership and the French state. The style corresponds in that intent to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States, and the Regency style in Britain. The previous style in France was called Louis XVI style.

History
The style developed and elaborated the Directoire style of the immediately preceding period, which aimed at a simpler, but still elegant evocation of the virtues of the Ancient Roman Republic:

The stoic virtues of Republican Rome were upheld as standards not merely for the arts but also for political behaviour and private morality. Conventionels saw themselves as antique heroes. Children were named after Brutus, Solon and Lycurgus. The festivals of the Revolution were staged by David as antique rituals. Even the chairs in which the committee of Salut Publique sat were made on antique models devised by David. …In fact Neo-classicism became fashionable.

The Empire style “turned to the florid opulence of Imperial Rome. The abstemious severity of Doric was replaced by Corinthian richness and splendour”.

Two French architects, Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, were together the creators of the French Empire style. The two had studied in Rome and in the 1790s became leading furniture designers in Paris, where they received many commissions from Napoleon and other statesmen.

Architecture of the Empire style was based on elements of the Roman Empire and its many archaeological treasures, which had been rediscovered starting in the eighteenth century. The preceding Louis XVI and Directoire styles employed straighter, simpler designs compared to the Rococo style of the eighteenth century. Empire designs strongly influenced the contemporary American Federal style (such as design of the United States Capitol building), and both were forms of propaganda through architecture. It was a style of the people, not ostentatious but sober and evenly balanced. The style was considered to have “liberated” and “enlightened” architecture just as Napoleon “liberated” the peoples of Europe with his Napoleonic Code.

The Empire period was popularized by the inventive designs of Percier and Fontaine, Napoleon’s architects for Malmaison. The designs drew for inspiration on symbols and ornaments borrowed from the glorious ancient Greek and Roman empires. Buildings typically had simple timber frames and box-like constructions, veneered in expensive mahogany imported from the colonies. Biedermeier furniture also used ebony details, originally due to financial constraints. Ormolu details (gilded bronze furniture mounts and embellishments) displayed a high level of craftsmanship.

General Bernadotte, later to become King Karl Johan of Sweden and Norway, introduced the Napoleonic style to Sweden, where it became known under his own name. The Karl Johan style remained popular in Scandinavia even as the Empire style disappeared from other parts of Europe. France paid some of its debts to Sweden in ormolu bronzes instead of money, leading to a vogue for crystal chandeliers with bronze from France and crystal from Sweden.

After Napoleon lost power, the Empire style continued to be in favour for many decades, with minor adaptations. There was a revival of the style in the last half of the nineteenth century in France, again at the beginning of the twentieth century, and again in the 1980s.

The most famous Empire-style structures in France are the grand neoclassical Arc de Triomphe of Place de l’Étoile, Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Vendôme column, and La Madeleine, which were built in Paris to emulate the edifices of the Roman Empire. The style also was used widely in Imperial Russia, where it was used to celebrate the victory over Napoleon in such memorial structures as the General Staff Building, Kazan Cathedral, Alexander Column, and Narva Triumphal Gate. Stalinist architecture is sometimes referred to as Stalin’s Empire style.

The style survived in Italy longer than in most of Europe, partly because of its Imperial Roman associations, partly because it was revived as a national style of architecture following the unification of Italy in 1870. Mario Praz wrote about this style as the Italian Empire. In the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States, the Empire style was adapted to local conditions and gradually acquired further expression as the Egyptian Revival, Greek Revival, Biedermeier style, Regency style, and late-Federal style.

Aesthetics

Main features

Rigor of straight and scrupulously orthogonal lines;
Hieratism of the whole;
Predominance of mahogany ;
Absence of marquetry ;
Applied bronze decoration: laurel wreaths, stars, palmettes , bees, dancing nymphs
architectural form

Ornamentation
Materials: bronze, wood
Reasons: Warrior, Roman subjects, sphinxes, sphinxes, ” Fame ” (creatures with angel wings), lions, dolphins, swans, bees
Fabrics: satin, taffeta, moire, velvet, cashmere, toile de Jouy
Colors: golden yellow, green, crimson, purple, purple

Furniture
The interiors of the furniture are more refined than in the 18th century.

“Dovetail” mounts on oak are common (especially in castles).

Common furniture
The liqueur cellars are beginning to become popular and are an integral part of the traveler’s trousseau.

New furniture
The beds by boat or basket , the Minister’s desk , the mirror cabinet, the psyche , the tripod pedestal table , the massive seats with stiff feet ending in lion’s claws, the hind legs in “saber”.

Materials
Mahogany wood is used until 1806.

The Emperor decrees the blockade closing the continent to British transport companies. He recommends the use of native woods: oak, walnut, ash, maple.

Mahogany (especially from Cuba) is very widespread: it is used in veneer or in massif;
Beginning in 1806 and the British blockade, walnut , maple , linden and ash will be used .
Cabinetmakers who prefer to work with wood grain will use elm magnifying glass, yew root or cedar for their decorative effects.

Techniques and tools
Cabinet Makers Representative of Style
Georges I Jacob and his second son whose stamp is “Jacob D. rue Meslée”
François-Honoré Jacob-Desmalter (1770-1841)
Jean Joseph Chapuis (1765-1864): Brussels disciple of Jacob, furnished the castle of Laeken in Empire style.

Source From Wikipedia