In France, during the reigns of Fran*¡ois I., Catherine de' Medici, and Henri II., a great activity took place in architecture and in all the industrial arts, in which that country not only imitated, but sought to excel, the work of the Italian schools.

Fig. 234. Italian Work; Sixteenth Century. (P).

As already mentioned, the French kings and Medicean princesses in the sixteenth century had invited from Italy Cellini, Primaticcio, II Rosso, Serlio, and others, who succeeded in founding the style of the Renaissance in France, and about the same time many French artists journeyed to Italy to acquire the newer style which had been evolved from the study of the old classic remains of that country. Among the names of the principal French artists, sculptors, and carvers of this period are those of Jean Goujon,Nicholas Bachelier of Toulouse, Jean Cousin, Germain Pilon, Philibert de l'Orme, Du Cerceau, who published designs for all kinds of decorations and carvings, and Hugues Sambin of Dijon. Most of these men were architects and also designers of the heavy and rich furniture (that was characteristic of the French Renaissance. Some of these artists and their works have been noticed in the chapters on Renaissance architecture and metal work. The cabinet (Fig. 238) is a good example of the architectonic style of French furniture of the sixteenth century. French wood carving is distinguished from the Italian of this period by the great use of the cartouche and strap-work (Fig. 239), which was so characteristic of the Henri-Deux style.

When the Renaissance had taken a firm root in Germany, the designers and carvers of altar-pieces and of furniture generally proved themselves thorough masters of the style, and were especially skilful in the carving of wood, both on a gigantic and on a minute scale. Whole fronts of houses were elaborately carved in designs consisting of figure work, animals, ornament, and grotesques of a quaint and humorous description, while exceedingly minute works of figure subjects and animals were carved in box and other woods with a delicacy and quaintness often excelling the ivory carvings of the Japanese. Escritoires, buffets, cabinets, and other furniture, were made and exported from Germany into Spain and other countries.

Flemish And English Furniture And Carving

Flemish And English Furniture And Carving were pretty much alike in the reigns of Elizabeth - the Tudor period of English art - and of James L, the Stuart or Jacobean. The pieces of carved furniture, both Flemish and English, were very solid and heavy both in the design and thickness of the material, which was generally of oak or chestnut. So much Flemish furniture was imported into England at this time, and the English-made work, being so close in resemblance to the former, that a great difficulty is experienced in classifying examples of this period. The table, Fig. 240, and the so-called "Great Bed of Ware," are examples of the furniture of the Elizabethan period (Fig. 241).

In Spain the Italian style in furniture was introduced in the first instance by the great importations from Italy and Germany, but under such excellent native carvers and designers as Felipe de Borgo¤a (sixteenth century), and Berruguete (1480-1561), the style of the Renaissance soon spread from Toledo to Seville and Valladolid, where great quantities of carved and inlaid work and elaborate altar-pieces were executed during the prosperous Spanish period of the sixteenth century.

During the same century Venice and Florence were famed for their marquetry - inlaid work of ivory and metal in cypress, walnut, and other woods, which art had been imported from Persia and India by the Venetians, and which spread rapidly through Europe until the furniture made with marquetry decoration by degrees supplanted the heavier classical architectural designs.

This was brought about chiefly in the West of Europe by the Dutch and French marquetry work, developed during the seventeenth century.

Beforeleaving the Italian sixteenth-century work we must notice the mirrors, with their elaborately carved frames of Venetian design and manufacture. In this century Venice was renowned for the making of glass, for which it is still famous, and certain privileges were granted by the State exclusively to Venetian manufacturers of looking-glasses. Two Murano glass makers named Andrea and Dominico, who were the inventors, were granted in the year 1507 the sole privilege of making "mirrors of crystal glass" for a term of twenty years. Previous to this time the mirrors were made of various polished metals.. The frames of the Venetian mirrors were often elaborately carved (Fig. 242), some of them being made in designs that were strictly architectural in character, representing a door, or window frame, with pilasters, frieze, and cornice, and sill or plinth. These carved frames were often partly or wholly gilt, and were exported in considerable quantities. Pictures were framed in a similar way to the mirrors, and carved and gilt frames were soon used all over Europe as picture frames. Later on gilt furniture of all kinds was made in Venice and was in great favour in the other countries of the Continent.

The Manufacture Of Marquetry Furniture By The Dutch

The Manufacture Of Marquetry Furniture By The Dutch in the seventeenth century has been mentioned as having helped in a great measure to change the style of furniture design from its former architectural character to a greater simplicity of construction. Large panel surfaces were used for the purpose of showing to greater advantage the rich and bright colours of different kinds of hard woods used in the marquetry. Both natural and stained varieties of various wood were arranged in the designs in juxtaposition, and a free and picturesque kind of ornamental foliage was employed mixed with large tulips, roses, and birds in the Dutch marquetry decoration. Other materials, such as ivory, ebony, and mother-of-pearl, were also used as inlays. In France a similar kind of marquetry was developed, but the design consisted more of figure subjects and imitations of ruins in landscapes. A complete change in the design of the furniture in the latter country was also effected by the same desire to get large surfaces on which the inlaid work could be seen to great advantage, and the spaces were not divided by architectural mouldings, or pilasters, as they had been in the preceding earlier work.