Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1063

 GRECIAN AND MODERN VILLA FUKMIURE. 1039 Chap. VI. Of the Furniture of Villas. 2071. In givinc/ Designs for the Furniture of Villas, our object shall be more to exhibit variety and display style, than to enter into the details of construction ; because the patrons of this branch of Domestic Architecture require rather to have a direction given to their taste, than to have sources of comfort and economy opened up to them. It is almost ininecessary to observe that the principle of unity of expression requires that the style of the furniture should correspond with that of the house ; but it cannot be super- fluous to remind the reader, and especially the young Arcliitect, of the necessity of the building and furnishing of a house being under the control of the same mind, and that this mind should be equally conversant with both departments. 2072. The principal Styles of Design in Furniture, as at present executed in Britain, may be reduced to four ; viz., the Grecian or modern style, which is by far tlie most pre- valent ; the Gothic or perpendicular style, which imitates the lines and angles of the Tudor Gothic Architecture ; the Elizabethan style, which combines the Gothic with the Roman or Italian manner ; and the style of the age of Louis XIV., or the florid Italian, which is characterised by curved lines and excess of curvilinear ornaments. The first or modern style is by far the most general, and the second has been more or less the fashion in Gothic houses from the commencement of the present century ; since which period the third and fourth are occasionally to be met with, and the demand for them is rather on the increase than othej-wise. Till the commencement of the present century, the most gorgeous furniture in the great houses of England was in the style of Elizabeth, and made during the reigns of Henry VIII., Elizabeth, and James I. ; or in the style of Louis XIV., and made during the reign of Charles II. All the gorgeous furniture in the great houses of France, and all the most sumptuous altar-pieces in the churches, were made during the reign of Louis XIV. In consequence of the first French revolution, and the recent changes in the fortunes of many of the English nobility, much of the furniture of these two styles, formerly almost exclusi%^ely used by the great, has been exposed to sale, and consequently has attracted the notice of gentlemen of less opulence ; and this has called into exercise a taste among them which had lain dormant for many years. Hence it is that we have now upholsterers in London who collect, both in foreign countries and in England, whatever they can find of curious and ancient furniture, including fragments of fittings-up of rooms, altars, and religious houses ; and rearrange these curious speci- mens, and adapt them to modern uses. Among these may be mentioned Wilkinson of Oxford Street, Hanson of John Street, and Nixon of Great Portland Street, who have curious collections ; made not so much with a view to gain, as from the pleasure attending the pursuit of a favourite object. We have also a very curious work on the subject of furniture, chiefly prior to the time of Queen Elizabeth, by Henry Shaw, Esq., an artist of great antiquarian research, and devoted to the subject of displaying to the world the taste of our ancestors. The designs in this chapter for Grecian or modern furniture have been almost entirely made by Mr. Dalziel, and, indeed, have been exe- cuted in his manufactory ; those in the Gothic style have been supplied by Mr. Lamb ; and those in the Elizabethan style by Blr. Lamb and Mr. Shaw. We have given but few designs in the style of Louis XIV., on account of the gi-eat expense of carrj-ing them into execution, and because we think a style distinguished more by its gorgeous gilding and elaborate carving than by any thing else, unsuitable to the present advancing state of the public taste. We should make nearly the same observations on the style of Elizabeth, distinguished by its rude and grotesque carvings, were it not that it is seldom necessary to manufacture objects in this manner, farther than by putting together ancient fragments which may be purchased at the sale of old buildings. Whoever in the present time (1833) wishes to furnish and fit up a house in such a manner as to produce a new and strange effect on the spectator, cannot attain his end at less expense than by having recourse to Elizabethan fragments. We shall arrange our designs in the order of Grecian and modern furniture ; Gotliic furniture ; and furnitui'e in the Elizabethan style. Sect. I. Grecian arid Modern Furniture. 2073. Modern Furniture may either be arranged according to the rooms in which it is to be placed, or to the particular denomination of the furniture : we adopted the latter mode when treating of the furniture of cottages which consist but of few rooms ; but we shall here take the former mode, and give, in succession, designs of furniture for the kitchen and ofiices; for the porch, hall, and billiard-room; for the parlour and dining- room ; for the library ; for the drawingroom and music-room ; for the bed-rooms and dressing-rooms : and for the niu-sery.