Empire style

The Empire style (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃.piːʁ], style Empire) is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 during the Consulate and the First French Empire periods, although its life span lasted until the late-1820s. From France it spread into much of Europe and the United States.^[1]

The Empire style originated in and takes its name from the rule of the Emperor Napoleon I in the First French Empire, when it was intended to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state. The previous fashionable style in France had been the Directoire style, a more austere and minimalist form of Neoclassicism that replaced the Louis XVI style, and the new Empire style brought a full return to ostentatious richness. The style corresponds somewhat to the Biedermeier style in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States, and the Regency style in Britain.

Detail of Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel from Paris, with a pair of winged Victories

A pair of sphinxes with an amphora between them, surrounded by rinceaux and palmettes, on a washstand (athénienne or lavabo)

The top of an Egyptian Revival pylon-shaped coin cabinet, with a cornice and a winged sun

A chair decorated with various kinds of palmettes

A table with three winged lions and a small long frieze with palmettes

All Empire ornament is governed by a rigorous spirit of symmetry reminiscent of the Louis XIV style. Generally, the motifs on a piece's right and left sides correspond to one another in every detail; when they do not, the individual motifs themselves are entirely symmetrical in composition: antique heads with identical tresses falling onto each shoulder, frontal figures of Victory with symmetrically arrayed tunics, identical rosettes or swans flanking a lock plate, etc. Like Louis XIV, Napoleon had a set of emblems unmistakably associated with his rule, most notably the eagle, the bee, stars, and the initials I (for Imperator) and N (for Napoleon), which were usually inscribed within an imperial laurel crown. Motifs used include: figures of Nike bearing palm branches, Greek dancers, nude and draped women, figures of antique chariots, winged putti, mascarons of Apollo, Hermes and the Gorgon, swans, lions, the heads of oxen, horses and wild beasts, butterflies, claws, winged chimeras, sphinxes, bucrania, sea horses, oak wreaths knotted by thin trailing ribbons, climbing grape vines, poppy rinceaux, rosettes, palm branches, and laurel. There's a lot of Greco-Roman ones: stiff and flat acanthus leaves, palmettes, cornucopias, beads, amphoras, tripods, imbricated disks, caduceuses of Mercury, vases, helmets, burning torches, winged trumpet players, and ancient musical instruments (tubas, rattles and especially lyres). Despite their antique derivation, the fluting and triglyphs so prevalent under Louis XVI are abandoned. Egyptian Revival motifs are especially common at the beginning of the period: scarabs, lotus capitals, winged disks, obelisks, pyramids, figures wearing nemeses, caryatids en gaine supported by bare feet and with women Egyptian headdresses.^[6]

in France

Château de Malmaison

in Paris

Hôtel de Beauharnais

in France

Château de Compiègne

in France

Château de Fontainebleau

in Spain

Casa del Labrador

in The Netherlands

Royal Palace of Amsterdam

The most famous Empire-style structures in France are the grand neoclassical Arc de Triomphe of Place de l'Étoile, Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Vendôme column, and La Madeleine, which were built in Paris to emulate the edifices of the Roman Empire. The style also was used widely in Imperial Russia, where it was used to celebrate the victory over Napoleon in such memorial structures as the General Staff Building, Kazan Cathedral, Alexander Column, and Narva Triumphal Gate. Stalinist architecture is sometimes referred to as Stalin's Empire style. The Royal Palace of Amsterdam houses a complete collection of Empire furniture from the time of Louis Bonaparte, the largest collection outside of France.

Interiors have spacious rooms, richly decorated with symmetrically arranged motifs. The walls are decorated with Corinthian pilasters and vertical panels, having at the top a decorative frieze. The panels are covered with monumental paintings, stuccos, or with embroidered silks. The ceilings have light colours and fine ornaments.^[7]

Historic sites which present an homogeneous ensemble, examples of the decoration of interiors of the early 19th century are:

Washstand (athénienne or lavabo); 1800–1814; legs, base and shelf of yew wood, gilt-bronze mounts, iron plate beneath shelf; height: 92.4 cm, width: 49.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Secretary; c.1804-1809; amboyna wood veneered on pine, with gilt-bronze mounts; 173.4 x 87.6 x 37.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Throne of Napoleon I; by Georges Jacob and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; 1804; embroidered velvet, gilt wood and ivory; height: 1.2 m; Louvre^[11]

Commode with two door panels; before 1805; mahogany with bronze mounts; 1.165 x 1.794 x 0.83 m; Louvre^[12]

Throne; by Bernard Poyet and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; 1805; carved and gilded wood, covered in red velvet with silver embroidery; 160 x 110 x 82 cm; Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris)^[13]

Desk chair; c.1805–1808; mahogany, gilt bronze and satin-velvet upholstery; 87.6 × 59.7 × 64.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jewelry holder of the Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais; by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; 1809; mahogany, amaranth, ebony, taxus, mother-of-pearl, and gilt bronze mounts; 2.76 x 2 x 0.6 m; Louvre^[14]

Egyptian Revival coin cabinet; by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; 1809–1819; mahogany (probably Swietenia mahagoni), with applied and inlaid silver; 90.2 x 50.2 x 37.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chair; before 1810; white trimmed wood with gilt carved decoration, modern trim, red and white silk; 90 x 50.5 x 44 cm; Louvre^[15]

King of Rome's Cradle (Empire); by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, Henri-Victor Roguier, Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot and Pierre-Philippe Thomire; 1811; wood, silver gilt, mother-of-pearl, sheets of copper covered with velvet, silk and tulle, decorated with silver and gold thread; height: 216 cm; Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria)^[16]

Candelabrum; circa 1800; gilt and patinated metal; overall: 49.9 x 25.7 x 12.3 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, US)

Egyptian Revival vase with pedestal; 1804–1806; varnished sheet and gilded bronze; height: 1.80 m, depth: 0.95 m; Louvre^[17]

Minerva candelabra; 1804–1814; gilded and patinated bronze; height: 101 cm, width of the plinth: 25 cm, depth of the plinth: 19 cm; Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris^[18]

Clock; 1807–1810; fire-gilt bronze, blackened bronze, enameled metal (dial), blued steel (hands); glass; 56 x 49.7 x 18.5 cm; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (New York City)

Clock with Mars and Venus; by Pierre-Philippe Thomire; circa 1810; gilded bronze and patina; height: 90 cm; Louvre

Centerpiece between two candelabra; by Pierre-Philippe Thomire; circa 1810; probably gilded bronze; Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisboa, Portugal)

Pair of candelabra with Winged Victories; 1810–1815; gilt bronze; height (each): 127.6 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Mantel clock called The Reader; by Jean-Andre Reiche; circa 1810; matte and polished gilt bronze and "Vert de Mer" marble; 31 x 15 x 26 cm; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, Canada)^[19]

Teapot (théière Asselin), part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain; height (with handle): 20.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Saucer, part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain; height: 3.2 cm; diameter: 16.2 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sugar bowl with cover, part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain; height: 21 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Milk jug (pot à lait Étrusque), part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain; height (with handle): 21.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tray (plateau), part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain; 2.5 x 37.5 x 33.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cup (tasse Jasmin), part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain and silver gilt; height: 11.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Empire silhouette of Stéphanie de Beauharnais

Portrait of Madame Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, from circa 1804

1809 illustration which shows how male Empire fashion looks like, from Journal des dames et des modes

Portrait of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, from 1817

American Empire style

Chariot clock

Empire silhouette

French Empire mantel clock

Indies Empire style

Lighthouse clock

Lyre arm

Neoclassicism in France

Neoclassical architecture in Milan

the late Greek revival style architecture

Neo-Grec

Palace of Fontainebleau

Second Empire (architecture)

(1977) [1968]. Neo-classicism. Style and Civilisation (reprinted with revisions ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140137606. OCLC 36284165.

Honour, Hugh

Hopkins, Owen (2014). Architectural Styles: A Visual Guide. Laurence King. 978-178067-163-5.

ISBN

Jones, Denna, ed. (2014). Architecture The Whole Story. Thames & Hudson. 978-0-500-29148-1.