Research topic: Directoire style

Directoire style , in French interior decoration and costume, the manner prevailing about the time of the Directory (1795-99), from which the name is derived. A style transitional between Louis XVI and Empire, it is characterized by a departure from the sumptuousness of the aristocratic regime. Furniture became more angular and severe; marquetry was replaced by large surfaces of painted and waxed wood. These new forms and the continued taste for Greco-Roman design, which forecast the Empire style , were established by the architects Percier and Fontaine and the artist J. L. David. The chemise... Read more