The Louis XVI style appeared fifteen years before the king ascended the throne and began to wane at the first approach of the Revolution that led to his demise. Geniality and simplicity replaced the exotic refinements and disorderly exuberance of the Louis XV style. As Marie-Antoinette played at peasantry in the Petit Trianon at Versailles, so small rustic retreats replaced the fussy elegance of the ceremonial rooms and townhouses of large cities. Antiquity was examined anew, this time characterized by reason and grace. Furniture lost its unnecessary ornamentation and lines became more restrained.

Abroad
England: The Adam style
Italy: The Neoclassical style
Spain: Carlos IV style

Furniture
Furniture types remain numerous and varied with each piece of furniture designed to fill a specific need of the refined culture of the noble class. Forms became stiffer, but the basic configuration of each piece of furniture that came into being during the Louis XV period remained much the same.

Materials and Techniques
Oak was used for solid-wood pieces. Walnut, ash and burled walnut were used for seating and moveable pieces. Mahogany became very fashionable both as veneer and in solid-wood pieces. Ebony also came back into vogue after being banished during the Louis XV period. Satinwood also was often used under Louis XVI.

Painted pieces were trimmed in gold or another contrasting color. Gilded wood was used for ceremonial chairs, console tables and mirror frames.

Marquetry continued to enjoy favor but geometric patterns proliferated. Lozenge and checkerboard patterns, interlace, rosettes, frets and rectangles with indented corners were placed to underscore the structure of a piece. Central motifs were set within rectangle or medallions.

Turned elements became common thanks to straight lines being the new fashion. Legs and vertical supports were turned in various ways, resembling spindles, quivers, columns and balusters.

Porcelain plaques made of Sèvres porcelain or in Wedgwood relief were incorporated into pieces. Copper was used to form collars circling turned legs and as strips to accentuate panels, moldings, and fluting. Steel began to appear to set off openwork bronze and copper fittings. Bronze fittings were applied to almost all Louis XVI furniture but they were more delicate in form and thus more ornamental than protective. They are small and finely detailed and are arranged symmetrically as corner ornaments, shoes, handles and key plates. Their forms derive from antiquity (dentils, interlace, egg-and-dart and laurels), upholstery (festoons, tassels, cords, fringes and knotted ribbons) and nature (flowers, fruit, and animals all rendered naturalistically).

The marble of choice was white, gray or sometimes red with veining. It was used for the tops of commodes and tables.

Ornament
Lines are straight. Strict verticals and horizontals were the order of the day. Flat surfaces and right angles are back in vogue. Ornament was disposed symmetrically around a central axis. Moldings were thinner, more elegant and less emphatic. Wall panels were square, rectangular, or arched, and accompanied by rosettes and acanthus. The paneling corners sometimes have rectangular or rounded indents adorned with small rosettes. Decorative elements are situated toward the top and bottom of furniture panels and include floral sprays hanging from knotted ribbons, or vases and urns containing flowers and greenery.

Decorative motifs of Louis XVI style were inspired by antiquity, the Louis XIV style and nature. Objects unearthed at ancient sites are inspiration for decorative motifs. Examples are vases, urns with squared handles, tripods, braziers, dentils, eagles, dolphins and ram and lion heads. Architectural motifs were used both as supports and as decorative elements. These include fluting, cabled fluting when the cabled terminate in leaf bud motifs, pilasters, fluted balusters and columns. Female masks and figures of children are frequently used. Elements of nature include strings of olive and oak leaves, short garlands of flowers and foliage, wreaths of laurel, ivy, and flowers, pinecones and pomegranates.


Source: Chadenet, Sylvie. French Furniture from Louis XIII to Art Deco. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2001.