The eighteenth century was a period of great inventiveness and
originality in French decorative arts, and its crowning achievement
was the creation and decoration of the domestic interior. Styles
such as the Regency, rococo, neoclassical revival and "style
etrusque" transformed the appearance of the great houses of France
and were widely copied throughout Europe. Using the craftsmen and
skills originally brought into France from Italy and the Low
Countries to serve the Sun King, French aristocrats and financiers
created in their Paris Hotels and country chateaux interiors of an
unprecedented elegance and sophistication. The same can be said of
the works of art with which they furnished these rooms - decorated
furniture, gilt-bronzes, silver, the finest porcelain, of which
none was finer than Sevres, tapestries and carpets, and beautiful
silks. This book discusses the creation and contents of many such
interiors, including some that have never been photographed before.
Using contemporary inventories, letters and journals it brings to
life the tastes and preoccupations of their creators, both in their
public lives and more private moments. It also explores the wider
context of the different styles of decoration, the effect upon them
of changes in etiquette and social behaviour, and the effect they
had in turn upon the function and arrangement of rooms within the
French interior.
關於作者:
John Whitehead is a frequent exhibitor at international art
and antiques fairs, and serves on the committee of the French
Porcelain Society. He is a well-known authority on
eighteenth-century decorative arts and interior decoration, and has
previously wri