What were two main characteristics of the Louis XIV style?

Louis XIV furniture was the most notable furniture of the late 1600's. Louis XIV had become king of France in 1643, when he was only 4 years old. He took control of the French government in 1661, after the death of France's chief minister, Jules Cardinal Mazarin. Louis, who was then 23 years old, devoted himself to making France the cultural and political center of the Western world. He considered furniture making and the decorative arts to be politically important because he could use them to glorify his position as king. He bought a building on the outskirts of Paris, turned it into workshops, and staffed the shops with expert artisans. He commissioned them to create furnishings for his residences. These furnishings created a new national style of art.

Actually, the artisans worked almost entirely on a single project in Versailles, where they converted a royal hunting lodge into a luxurious royal palace. The noted French architect Charles Le Brun supervised the huge Versailles project and hired artisans from other countries. The decorating and furnishing of the Versailles palace became such a large undertaking that many foreign artisans took up permanent residence in France. Many of them married French women and had children who became furniture makers, creating a native French group of artisans.

This luxurious style was particularly notable for two important characteristics. One was a veneer technique invented by a French cabinetmaker, Andre Charles Boulle. In this technique, artisans "sandwiched" a veneer (thin layer of material) between two veneers of a contrasting material. Artisans used such materials as brass, ebony, and a dull silvery metal called pewter. They cut through the layers to create contrasting scrolled patterns. Veneers were applied to Louis XIV cabinets, writing tables, and other furniture. Le Brun and Louis himself were responsible for the second characteristic - furniture of solid silver made for the main rooms at Versailles.

§ The Regence style

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