Styles - Louis XV

[bugbear]

Whilst (as a woodworker) I can appreciate the workmanship and sheer hours in it, I find the actual Louis XV (Rococo) furniture just awful to look at.

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl ... rch+Images

It seems purely an exercise for the wealthy (they had to be, then and now) owners to say "phooar - look at the man hours on that".

Or am I missing something - are there people like it on aesthetic grounds alone?

BugBear

 

[wizer]

I tend to agree. I like curves but they really go over the top with them. But then wernt they all a bit poncy back then? Isn't this the age where Hugh Laury is the prince in Black Adder?

 

[Lord Nibbo]

Totally agree, in it's day it may have been the bee's knees but I find it overpowering, top heavy, out of place in modern society. It's funny though how a lot of Americans go for it :shock: and yet another American style that of Shaker does appeal to me, it must be cos I like minimalist stuff.

 

[MikeG.]

Named for a regime that had become so decadent that the ruler, if he deigned to meet you at all, wouldn't dignify you by even bothering to get out of bed, and was known as the Sun King. His palaces were so opulent and lavish that minimalism would have been incomprehensible to anyone of the era.........its hardly surprising that a regime built on excess should have furniture that was just about the most excessive in history.

Like it? That was never the point...............you were supposed to be in awe of it, overcome by the wealth on display.

Amazing crafstsmanship, though.....

Mike

 

[Mike Saville]

I'm not a fan either but I would think that like other endevours where the boundaries are pushed there are some new ideas and techniques to arise from it that could be applied elsewhere. I'm no expert but I would think that areas such as laminating, veneering, carving, inlay etc were all moved forward by this style. So it would seem to have its benefits, even if aesthetics isn't one of them.