Part 7 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Waring._
CHEST OF DRAWERS. PANELLED FRONT; LATE JACOBEAN.
(Height, 3 ft. 4 in.; width, 3 ft. 10 in.; depth, 1 ft. 10 in.)]
The Italian Renaissance furniture probably received an oil varnish, the composition of which, like the varnish employed for old violins, has been lost, but after centuries of careful usage and polis.h.i.+ng, the result, as seen in the fine specimens in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is to give to them the appearance of bronze.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Hampton & Sons._
CHARLES II. OAK CHAIR.
Open back carved with sh.e.l.l and scrolled foliage. Stuffed seat covered with old damask.]
There is little doubt that the Great Fire, which did such immense destruction in London in 1666, in which some eighty-nine churches and thirteen thousand houses were demolished, gave a considerable impetus to the manufacture of furniture in the new style. It is not a pleasing reflection to think how many fine pieces of Elizabethan and early Jacobean furniture were consumed in the flames, including much of Inigo Jones's work.
Under the genius of Sir Christopher Wren many of the city churches were rebuilt, including St. Paul's Cathedral; and Greenwich Hospital and Hampton Court were enlarged according to Wren's designs, with the co-operation of the master woodcarver, Grinling Gibbons. In later Jacobean days a splendour of style and an excellence of workmans.h.i.+p were the outcome of the fine achievements in interior woodwork by Grinling Gibbons and the school he founded.
The work of Grinling Gibbons consisted of most natural chains of flowers and foliage, fruit, or birds or cherubs' heads, all faithfully reproduced untrammelled by convention. St. Paul's Cathedral, Hampton Court, Chatsworth, and Petworth House all contain work by him of singular beauty. He trained many a.s.sistants to help him to carry on his work, and one of them, Selden, lost his life in endeavouring to save the carved room at Petworth from a destructive fire. The soft wood of the lime was his favourite for detailed carving; for church panelling or choir stalls, such as at St. Pauls, he employed oak; in his medallion portraits or figure work he preferred pear or close-grained boxwood.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Hampton & Sons._
CHARLES II. OPEN HIGH-BACK OAK CHAIR.
Finely carved legs and stretcher. Stuffed seat covered in old Spanish silk damask.]
The gradual development of the chair in the later Stuart days in the direction of upholstered seat will be noticed in the specimens which are given as ill.u.s.trations. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV. drove some thousands of French workmen--weavers, gla.s.s-workers, and cabinetmakers--to this country. The silk-weaving industry established by them at Spitalfields was one of the results, and silk stuffs and brocades were used for covering the seats and backs of furniture. At Hampton Court the crystal gla.s.s chandeliers were made by French workmen, whom Wren was glad to employ to a.s.sist him to make that palace a worthy rival to Versailles.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co._
CHARLES II. CHAIR.
Cane back and seat, finely carved legs and stretcher.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Fenton & Sons._
JAMES II. CHAIR.
With cane back and seat, and finely turned legs and stretcher.]
The chair here ill.u.s.trated shows the commencement of the use of cane work in place of wood for the panel in back and for the seat. The James II. chair ill.u.s.trated shows the later development of the cane-back. The William and Mary chair (ill.u.s.trated p. 125) shows how the cane-back was retained later than the cane-seat, and how rich damask was employed for the upholstered seat. It is interesting to see how the stretcher, which in earlier days was of use to keep the feet raised from a wet or draughty floor, has now become capable of elaborate ornamentation.
Genuine examples of chairs of Elizabethan and Early Stuart days show the wear of the feet of the sitters. The same wear is observable in the lower rail of old tables. In later Stuart days the stretcher has left its place at the bottom, between the two front legs. Since its use as a foot-rest, owing to carpeted floors, is gone, it is found either joining the legs diagonally, or higher up as an ornament with carved front. In the eighteenth century it has almost disappeared altogether.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _By permission of Messrs. Harold G. Lancaster & Co._
WILLIAM AND MARY CHAIR.
Cane back. Seat upholstered in damask. Finely carved legs and stretcher.]
Mirrors began to take a prominent place in interior decoration. The house of Nell Gwynne in St. James's Square had one room entirely lined with gla.s.s mirrors. Hampton Court is full of mirrors, and they are arranged with considerable skill. By an artful arrangement the mirror in the King's Writing Closet is placed at such an angle that the reflection of the whole suite of rooms may be seen in it. The looking gla.s.ses made in this country in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were the work of Venetian and French workmen. The plates had a bevel of an inch in width, and these bevels followed the shape of the frame, whether square or oval. A factory was established near Battersea which produced some fine work of this nature. It will be noticed by the collector who is observant that the bevels differ considerably from modern bevels. The angle is not such an acute one, and sometimes the edges are double bevelled. Many of the mirrors of the time of William and Mary had an ornamented border of blue gla.s.s. Sometimes the mirror was painted with festoons of flowers and with birds in French manner. In imitation of Italian style the back of the mirror, in examples a little later, was worked upon in the style of intaglio, or gem cutting, this presenting a dull silver surface when seen from the front.