Sep
24
Renaissance Antiques - Furniture, Glass, Porcelain, Pottery, Silver
September 24, 2009 |
The discovery of the Baths of Titus and Nero’s home stimulated a leap
forward in the decorative arts. The stucco decoration of both buildings
witl animal, floral, human and grotesque motifs all symmetrically
placed was adapted to furniture, metalwork, gold and silversmithing,
pottery, textiles anil jewelry in the early 16th century.
The Renaissance should not be seen however as a backward-looking
sear :b for the glories of a lost empire but as a momentous”advance in
hun ; n culture a desire not so much to re-create classical culture but to
use t as a springboard to the future. 1 he innovations of the craftsmen
of tl e 16th century are a notable illustration of this desire.
The cabinetmaker was, for the first time, primarily concerned with
the oportions of his furniture to which he could then apply classically
pure) decoration. Italian cabinetmakers turned away from oak which
was i flicult lo carve and decorate, to ebony, walnut and soon, framing
was ; dapled as a method of construction which allowed decorative
technques not used before. Both Italian and Spanish cabinetmakers
u ere nfluenced by their contacts with Islam. The geometric and natural-
istic motifs of Moorish decoration were highly appealing to the Renais-
sance artist. New furniture forms were also developed, reflecting the
needs of a population who were becoming accustomed lo more per-
manent dwellings as the political turmoil of the Dark Ages subsided.
The cassone was a development of the Gothic chest while the cassajpanca
was a form of sofa which evolved from the cassone as the cabinetmaker
sought newer forms. The characteristic ‘X’ or scissor chair which had
been a portable folding chair now became a rigid piece of furniture that
was richly decorated. In Spain the chest evolved into the vargueno, a type
of desk. Tables were no longer designed to be folded away thus opening
up a whole variety of forms and decoration to the cabinetmaker.
Italian gold and silversmiths also drew heavily on the surviving
buildings of ancient Rome and Greece for their inspiration, tend ing to
use clean, well proportioned lines for the form and to use decorative
panels. The smiths of Florence achieved renown throughout Europe for
their ingenuity and originality of style and their casting techniques.
Venice, on the other hand, was the centre of the world’s glassmaking
industry. Although the secrets of making high-quality glass had been
lost in the Dark Ages they were rediscovered around the 11th century
and by the 13th century a glass industry was established on the island of
Murano. Venice began to rise to its pre-eminent position in the 15th
century and reached its peak in the 16th century. The glassware of the 15th
century though reflecting the splendour of the Renaissance by the) use of
colour and enamelling, tended to be influenced by silverware of the day
and was rather heavy and massive in shape. By the 16th century lighter
design had opened the way to more fanciful forms and the inven ion of
cristallo was the piece de resistance of the Venetian glassmakers. The
fragility of cristallo led glassmakers to concentrate upon form rather
than applied decoration. Thus glassmaking came of age.
The Renaissance reached France sometime after 1450 at a time when
the Gothic style was at its peak. As a result the first effects of the Renais-
sance were restricted to applied decoration. During the reign of Francois
1 (1515-47) the first distinctive Renaissance style came into being and
underwent subsequent changes during the reign of Francois’ successor,
Henri II, and later (1610) with Louis XIII.
Spain first showed signs of Renaissance influence at the end of the
15th century where it became known as the Plateresque style because
decorative work was similar to the fine work of the silversmith. Although
the goldsmiths of Spain borrowed much from Renaissance Lornbardy
in their designs - foliated scrolls, classical heads, mythical beasts and so
on - they made a style all of their own and their work is amongst the
finest of the Renaissance metalworkers. The skill of the Spanish metal-
workers extended to wrought-iron grilles, railings and so on. Spanish
tables, as elsewhere, were no longer designed to be portable arid were
notable for being bound by wrought-iron stretchers.
The Renaissance did not reach England until the reign of Elizabeth I
(1558-1603) and even then the transformation remained incomplete,
the Gothic style determining form with Renaissance decorative motifs
added on.
By the middle of the 16th century in Italy the creative outpourings of
the Renaissance were all but spent and until the end of the century the
short-lived style called Mannerism was the dominant influence. The
Mannerists ceased research into nature and natural appearance a$ source
material and turned back instead to the masters of the High Rem issance
suqrias Michelangelo, and to relief sculpture for inspiration. But around
the turn of the century a new style began its march across Europe. The
age] of the Baroque was beginning.
Renaissance had been evolving in Italy for nearly a century before
[fiuence reached Northern Europe in the early years of the 16th cen-
The Netherlands were the first to adopt Renaissance forms and it
from there that the style was disseminated to Germany, Scandi-
and England through circulated prints such as those by Cornells
is (active in the 1550s), who introduced Renaissance scrolled
orriament and grotesques to the Low Countries and Germany in mid-
ceriniry. Engravings by Hans Vredeman de Vries (1527—C. 1604) and his
son Paul (1567-c.1630) accelerated the diffusion of northern Renais-
sar ce design.
bound 1580 in Antwerp, de Vries published a pattern-book showing
kg Italian Renaissance and Mannerist influence in his designs for
poster beds, tables, chairs, cupboards and other furnishings. The
Sees, caryatids, pilasters, arches and other architectural details
[rated in these plates were to be as important for northern European
tture production as his depictions of scrolls, spindles, figures, heavy
str^pwork and gem-shaped bosses.
|te Renaissance joined cupboards of the Netherlands, particularly
thdjjB of Antwerp, were characterized by this heavy style. Set on bun
feeLjthey had panelled doors ornamented with rectangular mouldings
and separated by pilasters or consoles. Turned supports of spheres,
blocks and balusters, the latter often fluted, appeared on Flemish stools,
benches, chairs, tables and beds, often joined by similarly turned
st res tellers.
Germany, prints executed by Albrecht Diirer (1471-1528), Peter
inspired forms and motifs which furniture-makers had widely adopted
(c. 1485-1576) and the de Vrieses, circulated Renaissance-
le mid-16th century. Engravings by Lorenz Stoer (active 1555-
(.1620) popularized designs for the inlay and marquetry ornament of
is and cabinets, with involved and complicated perspective views
thajt included overgrown architectural ruins, strapwork, rollwork and
olyhedral forms such as dodecahedra.
the conservative and more commercially isolated north, stylistic
chdriges occurred more slowly; pieces were heavily formed and enriched
wit i massively carved figures and ornament. Gothic vestiges, such as
lintnfold ornament on cupboards, lingered well into the mid-16th
centiiry.
Application of classical architectural motifs to French furniture forms
in the first half of the 16th century created the bold, vigorous Francois I
sty e Tables carved with griffins and grotesques, beds with baluster posts
and) pictorial hangings and panelled chairs, benches, stools and cup
English oak armchair with panelled hack.
boards exhibited the initial ripples of Italian influence in their ornament
and form. In the second half of the century the integrated, mors in-
dependently French Henri II style developed, shaped largely by the
engravings of architecture and furniture executed by the designers
Jacques Androuet du Cerceau (c.1520- 1584) and Hugues Sambin
( 1520-r. 1601). Architectural details, fruit and foliage, caryatids and
lion, ram and eagle forms ornamented the heavily carved armoireS and
tables of this period. These also appeared on the characteristic Four-
doored cupboard in two stages, which was often carved with figure > and
crowned by a broken pediment.
Du Cerceau’s first book of architecture appeared in 1559 and s:rved
to establish his reputation firmly. He went on to publish several ather
books of engraved designs for silver, textiles and furniture as well as
architecture, drawing heavily on the silver designs of Hans Broiamer
and the engraved ornaments of Polidoro, Agostino Veneziane and
Perino del Vaga. He was the first French architect to publish furniture
designs in the Renaissance style and despite the fantastic and elat orate
style of many of his designs, several pieces of furniture still exist, pa rticu-
larly sideboards and cupboards which are clearly derived directly from
his book. Other pieces in which his influence is apparent omit someof his
more imaginative details.
It is not known whether Sambin ever actually made a piece of furniture
and his reputation seems to rest mainly on interior work for the Palais
de Justice in Dijon, notably a wooden screen which separates the chapel
from the Salle des Pas Perdu, as well as on his book Oeuvre de la di >ersite
des Termes, dont on use en Architecture. Some existing cabinets seem to
show the influence of Sambin particularly in the style of their term: igures
which exhibit the curious fantasy quality typical of Sambin.
The school of Fontainebleau combined the styles of du Cerceau,
Sambin and the Italian craftsmen imported by Francois I and Henri II
to decorate the palace of Fontainebleau in the Renaissance manner.
French furniture craftsmanship in the second half of the century
showed increasing mastery and refinement of the techniques of carving,
dovetailing and joinery.