Mobilier Régence Louis XV, transition Louis XVI (book)

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Mobilier Louis XV Régence, transition Louis XVI / Louis XV Regency furniture, Louis XVI transition (book) by Claude-Paule Wiegandt. Hardcover book of 191 pages. Publisher Charles Massin. 2010. Very good condition. Book in French.

In the middle of the 18th century, journeys undertaken by artists and wealthy young people from France and England increased with the discovery of the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This only strengthened Europe’s attraction to Antiquity and Greco-Roman art. In France, however, the creations of Louis XV’s cabinetmakers resisted but were presented with more fantasy.

A transitional style, the Regency style includes many elements characteristic of the Louis XIV period while others will be found in the Louis XV style. The shapes are imposing, the lines are curved and fantasy mixes with richness. The Louis XV style is dominated by a taste for comfort and intimacy: the curve triumphs, lightness is the rule, without however excluding the richness of the decor. In the 18th century, the discovery of the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum led to a new attraction throughout Europe for Antiquity and Greco-Roman art, and helped to create a new, more refined Transition style, characterized by the straight line and scrupulous respect for proportions and balance. Pompeian taste was adorned, during the Louis XVI era, with all the charms of the 18th century. The natural flowers, the draperies, the ribbon bows bring a fantasy and flexibility that strip the neo-classical taste of all severity. The works in the “Le mobilier francais / French furniture” collection, under the direction of Claude-Paule Wiegandt, have been entrusted to authors whose training and functions within museums have led them to specialize in this field. Each work replaces the furniture in their time, evokes the setting for which they were designed, studies their method of manufacture as well as the influences from elsewhere.

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