An Introduction To Tudor And Elizabethan Styles Of Furniture
Icaro Aveiga
In the early 1530s, Henry VIII separated England from the Roman Catholic Church, in response to the Pope's refusal to annul his marriage. The Church of England was consolidated and Henry VIII was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. So, Henry wasn't too happy with Rome, and had no desire to bring Italian styles into England. The Renaissance would have to wait, and as a result Tudor furniture remained overwhelmingly Gothic in nature.
England's 16th century was bookended by two of its most influential monarchs, Henry VIII_ (r. 1509-1547) and Elizabeth I (1558-1603) of the Tudor dynasty. While only a generation apart, they had very different ideas about furniture. The Tudor style of Henry VIII was medieval and heavy, featuring carved decorations in solid, oak forms. The Elizabethan style invited the Italian influence that Henry rejected along with the Catholic Church, which blended with the English Gothic to introduce the English Renaissance. This furniture was still heavy by modern standards, but visually lighter than early Tudor styles, much more ornate, and a much more important part of English society. From the reign of the Tudors to the introduction of the four-poster, the 16th century changed England forever.
An Introduction to Tudor and Elizabethan Styles of Furniture
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Carving in the Elizabethan furniture style became more ambitious, as illustrated by four-post beds canopies. The costumes and faces of figures or busts gave them a specific character, making the Elizabethan period style distinct from the other contemporary European furniture styles.
This 200 year period includes the rise of an artistic era dominated by the culture and design of the renaissance through to the beginning of the baroque. Whilst earlier Tudor designs are often crafted from solid wood and have a focus on the form above decorations, it was during the reign of Elizabeth I that British furniture can be defined as a specific decorative style which is set apart from the continental renaissance of the same period. Whilst the Italian and French styles of the era are still influential, we can see some charming characteristics which are predominantly found in 16th and 17th century British designs.
Modern gothic furniture can be determined through the use of angles and details reminiscent of medieval cathedrals, including high pointed angles. However, the Victorians had no single style as the change in fashions became more frequent and individual in taste. During this period you may also come across designs which copy some of the genres we have mentioned previously, including rococo and tudor revival. Therefore Victorian furniture may seem to throw you off at first due to mimicry, but a close look at the joinery and craftsmanship may point you in the right direction. Look for signs of machine cut lines or effects which may have only been made possible by later centuries. The inclusion of heavily aesthetic flowers, bows or vined areas may also point to a Victorian style, as well as heavy drapery.
The introduction of different styles and materials in the 20th century meant that wooden furniture was not always as popular, many items from this period may be plastic, metal or have a wide variety of different upholstery from traditional weaves to new synthetic fabrics. The sleek and nostalgic designs from the 1930s onwards still have a huge appeal today and can be found in many homes.
Although The Eastlake Style is considered Victorian era furniture because he worked and was popular during the late Victorian era, it really was a reaction to what he disliked about most of the furniture being produced during that time. The 19th century was dominated by a number of historic revivals; Classical, Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan and Rococo revival furniture were the most popular. These styles were interpreted with an abundance of ornament to the point which Eastlake considered senseless and ugly. Eastlake, and other prominent critics of his day, also objected to what he saw as the cheapening of aesthetics due to the machine. Machines replaced the quality of hand done joinery with lower cost techniques and cheap substitutes that were painted to look like finer materials. These critics also objected to the factory system as well, seeing it as a way of debasing the worker and robbing them of the satisfaction and pride in their work.
The 19th Century
The 19th century is marked by the Industrial Revolution, which caused profound changes in society. With increasing working populations in cities, with the rise of a new class of wealthy (but not necessarily informed) furniture buyers, together with the arrival of mass-production and the consequent demise of the individual craftsman-designer, the gradual progression of furniture styles that had characterized previous centuries was replaced by a riot of often poorly imitated styles.
Styles such as Art Nouveau and Art Deco, while remaining useful inspirations for subsequent 20th-century styles, are quite distinct from most Modern and Post-modern furniture, and none of the above can be considered as quintessentially representative of the20th century.
Furniture leg styles do more than complete the look of a piece. They are also accommodating for identifying different styles of antique furniture styles, such as the manufacture date, especially when studied in combination with foot styles.
Fluted legs were inspired by columns from Greek antiquity, with their popularity peaking during the Neoclassical period in the second part of the 18th century. Later, it emerged in Hepplewhite and Classical Revival furniture leg styles.
The spiral leg has reappeared throughout history, not just in Europe, but worldwide. Moorish, Islamic, Byzantine, Baroque, and Romanesque designs are just a few styles that used spiral-style furniture legs.
In speculating on early definitions of "furniture"Robert W Symonds argues that, because of the uneveness of British travel and transportation patterns in these early years of the nation's evolution, several matters need to be considered: first, of the furniture forms themselves, and, second, the design styles of these same forms, one style might remain long after the introduction of another.
In many cases, historically, early furniture designs are affiliated with architectural styles. Britain's oak furniture, for example, readily divides either into the Gothic, the Renaissance, or the Jacobean and Commonwealth periods.
"Though little more than a box within a box, the introduction of the drawer is perhaps one of the most significant innovations in the history of furniture design". This quote is adapted from Jim Tolpin -- complete citation below -- and although he makes this claim in the 20th-century, it applies equally well to any time frame, including the mediaval era, when drawer construction itself begins to evolve.
As already noted, during the Tudor period, it is evident that, both in their furniture and in their architecture, the British have yet to learn the importance of unity in the composition of their designs, and what to select or what to discard. Instead, their chief purpose is, seemingly, to cover surfaces with ornamentation. What results is an ornamentation style which lacks the appearance of a unity of design, or a classic refinement, conditions that makes furniture forms and other interior decoration inferior to the integrety of the composition in the contemporary Italian and French styles of ornament.
Have you ever wondered just what George II or Chippendale period actually means? Many dealers and enthusiasts refer to furniture and works of art by which period they are from without actually divulging even roughly what year that means the article is from. Now that is fine if talking to a fellow dealer or even somebody with an in depth knowledge of history, but what about to the ordinary man on the street? How are they meant to know that Chippendale Period means around 1760 or that Regency Period means 1810 to 1837? Hopefully the following table will be a valuable resource to anybody trying to decipher a description they have been given or even anybody just trying to learn more about dates and styles of furniture.
I think, early toilets were as ornate as a piece of artwork. No surprise though as much attention was paid to details and aesthetics during the Victorian and Edwardian era. However, by 1910 the only approved colour for bathroom appliances was white and without ornament. Only art deco brought some changes in the 1920s by cutting the edges of the bathroom furniture to provide different shapes and styles. In the 1930s colours returned and the bakelite was used for seats. Coloured sanitary ware first appeared in the US in 1927, blues, greens and yellows were popular. In the late 1960s and early 1970s new colours appeared: avocado and pampas.
Prior to becoming king Charles 2 and his court had spent years in exile in the fashionable centres of France and Holland and had learnt to admire the styles of furniture, and living, that they encountered there and as a result, on their return, they transplanted French and Dutch baroque tastes to London. ( See description and pictures of a Restoration era period room and more on the influence of the royal court).
Upon doing so they found many imitators and the fine and elaborate furniture of the European continent, particularly that belonging to the Louis XIV Baroque style, spread into the homes of wealthy Londoners. Typically, however, in provincial areas of England country furniture craftsmen continued with making furniture in the semi-Gothic Jacobean and the plain and simple Cromwellian styles.
The new forms of decorating furniture combined with improved construction techniques had a role in the introduction of numbers of new furniture items such as daybeds, designed to go as a set with Carolean era baroque chairs, (see picture of Restoration interior), freestanding bookcases, chests of drawers, more structurally advanced gate leg dining tables, English clocks, and dressing tables - these models mostly being in the Baroque style prevalent among the advanced European nations.
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