Antique French Furniture ~ Glorious Beginnings

Antique French furniture has been collected, copied and emulated around the world, and many volumes have been written on the subject.  No wonder Thomas Jefferson said “France is every man’s second country”, because we have been so influenced by France ~ its style, furniture, history and art.

To most of us, antique French furniture means furnishings from the 18^th and 19^th century, so we conjure up mental pictures of that period.  This is rightly so, because 18^th century France was an amazing period of great innovation in design and the decorative arts.   This continued through the 19^th century witnessing the rise of the middle class and inventions of the industrial era.

But the birth of a great country like France started so much earlier with the rise of the Merovingian kings in the 5^th century.  It is hard for us living in our young country today to imagine the legacy and history that started so long ago.  The most notable beginnings of French furniture were during the Gothic period and many examples are documented in museums.  This period was marked by austere existence and high religious devotion.  The furniture of that time was nothing like the more romantic re-interpretation of the Gothic style in the 19^th century.   (This revival produced the vast majority of the antique Gothic furniture we enjoy today.)

In the early Gothic period the furniture was more fundamental and basic.  The wooden chest, or coffre, served as the seat, storage for clothing, even sometimes as a cupboard.  But the simplicity of the early style form evolved over the centuries to the point that today we can’t resist the graceful panels with the linen folds and the now-famous gothic arches and spires.

As France emerged from the Middle Ages, the romantic era of French Renaissance art and antique furniture began.  It was an unexpected result of the Italian military campaigns of Louis XII and François I.  The glorious era of the Italian Renaissance had commenced almost a century before, therefore French noblemen and officers returning from war brought home new grand ideas and revolutionary works of art.  To implement this newfound style, both rulers were instrumental in bringing brilliant Italian architects, sculptors and painters to France.

The kings erected grand châteaux such as d’Amboise, Fontainebleu and Chenonceau.  The Loire Valley is filled with monuments to this grand era, set upon this lush, fertile valley of legend.  Castles that were originally conceived as fortifications for defense developed into architectural gems, filled with antique furnishings that were true works of art.  French kings and the nobility were inspired by this new style and bought paintings by Raphael and statues by Michelangelo.  Artists like Leonardo daVinci were invited to decorate newly constructed palaces of the royal court.

France entered this new era with a spirit of rebirth as creativity and innovation swept the country.  This spirit spread throughout Europe and eventually encompassed the world.  Today we are just as inspired by these style beginnings, expressed in the architecture and
furnishings of the new castles and chateaux that we are building today!

We now have sub-categories of Armoires, Buffets and Commodes devoted to the Renaissance/Gothic styles, and you can log onto www.inessa.com to see them all!