The Regency style's debt to Napoleon

Magazine Antiques, Oct, 2004 by Paula A. Baxter

With the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the English could again openly pursue their taste for all things French. Emigre French artisans came to work in England, including those who had enjoyed the former emperor's patronage. Some of the extravagances of the Empire style began to evaporate during this time of transition, and French terms for Empire furniture forms are found more frequently in English pattern books after 1815. (8) Regency decorators were quite ready to adopt Empire qualities like simple lines, bold contours, and sleek surfaces, albeit modified to make them more suitable to English taste. The Prince Regent's longstanding preference for French gilding and ebony (in contrast to the English passion for mahogany) also influenced English furniture design.

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Two English pattern books published in 1826 demonstrate the absorption of Empire values into the working repertoire of the Regency style. These were Peter and Michael Angelo Nicholson's The Practical Cabinet-Maker, Upholsterer, and Complete Decorator and George Smith's The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide ..., which offer an invaluable look at the mature phase of the Regency style and the incorporation of the Empire style into modern English interior decoration. One of the most significant elements in the Nicholsons' book is the use of draperies for decorative effect. French-inspired martial sources are evident in Military Window Drapery (Pl. VII) and in various depictions of tented beds and Grecian furniture. Other illustrations in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide reflect the growing stylistic pluralism in the Regency style, including the enduring English taste for Gothic decoration in various modes. Smith's French Dome Bed (Pl. IX) illustrates the compromise between Empire elegance and English refinement. The bed no longer parallels the wall but juts out into the room from its canopy. However, in shape it is an Empire lit en bateau. Smith also illustrates a room in Interior Decoration. Roman (Pl. X) that demonstrates an Empire treatment of the wall surface, while a sideboard with flanking pedestal vases is typically Regency. (9) The architectural solidity of this interior approximates the grander spaces depicted by Percier and Fontaine and reflects the kind of Empire influence that appears in the works of Nash and Sir John Soane (1753-1837). Most of all, Smith's plate reveals how the Empire style (albeit disguised by the term Roman) had become an aesthetically acceptable alternative to Regency decor.

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By the 1820s, examples of Empire furniture, draperies, and interiors, many modeled on the most flamboyant examples found in imperial households, were being made along more modest lines for general consumption. Advertisements for this sort of furniture dotted Ackermann's Repository of Arts (which appeared monthly between 1809 and 1829), and other journals. (10) Ackermann's publication covered architecture, interiors, carriages, and stylish dress, and gave advice on current taste. Throughout its run it confirms the continuing appeal of French goods.