Empire
Empire. Neo-Classical style of decoration and interior design that evolved in the Napoleonic period in France in the first fifteen years of C19, corresponding to British Regency and American Directory styles. It was largely the creation of Percier and Fontaine, and it drew on Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek, Pompeian, and Roman motifs, treated with extraordinary verve, synthesized in a satisfactory whole. Motifs such as eagles, the letter N, wreaths, lotuses, winged discs, and other ornaments, gilded, were set against fine, rich woods. The style had a profound effect on taste in Britain, Prussia, Russia, and the USA, although in the last-named country Greek forms and Freemasonic symbols played more of a role.
Bibliography
CoE (1972);
Lewis & Darley (1986)
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Empire
