Sunday, July 3, 2011

The Louis XVI Chair

Variations on a theme from The Foundary.
The history of the Louis XVI chair really begins with the Roman town of Herculaneum. Mount Vesuvius buried it under 20 meters of ash and debris for 1,700 years. Its excavation sparked a renewed interest in the classics and influenced the furnishings of the French court.

The Louis XVI style rejected the outmoded curves and cabriole legs of its predecessors and introduced distinctive straight legs, fluted to resemble Roman columns. This reinterpretation of antiquity defined the neoclassical movement.

Over 200 hundred years of history (and the cold-blooded efficiency of the guillotine) have democratized the pedigreed Louis XVI chair and made it a staple of interior design. (Read entire article.)
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