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American Empire (style)

 

 
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American Empire is a French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
-inspired Neoclassical
Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
 style of American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 furniture and decoration that takes its name and originates from the Empire style
Empire (style)

The Empire Style, sometimes considered the second phase of Neoclassicism, is an early-19th-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts....
 introduced during the First French Empire
First French Empire

The Empire of the French , also known as the Greater French Empire or First French Empire, but more commonly known as the Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France in France....
 period under Napoleon's
Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
 rule. It gained its greatest popularity in the U.S. after 1810 and is considered the second, more robust phase of the Neoclassical style, which earlier had been expressed in the Adam style
Adam style

The Adam style is a style of neoclassicism architecture and design as practised by Scotland architect Robert Adam and his brothers. A book of engraved designs made the "Adam" repertory available throughout Europe....
 in Britain and Louis Seize, or Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France

Louis XVI or Louis-Auguste de France ruled as List of French monarchs of France and of List of Navarrese monarchs from 1774 until 1791, and then as Popular monarchy from 1791 to 1792....
, in France.






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]]

American Empire is a French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
-inspired Neoclassical
Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
 style of American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 furniture and decoration that takes its name and originates from the Empire style
Empire (style)

The Empire Style, sometimes considered the second phase of Neoclassicism, is an early-19th-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts....
 introduced during the First French Empire
First French Empire

The Empire of the French , also known as the Greater French Empire or First French Empire, but more commonly known as the Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France in France....
 period under Napoleon's
Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
 rule. It gained its greatest popularity in the U.S. after 1810 and is considered the second, more robust phase of the Neoclassical style, which earlier had been expressed in the Adam style
Adam style

The Adam style is a style of neoclassicism architecture and design as practised by Scotland architect Robert Adam and his brothers. A book of engraved designs made the "Adam" repertory available throughout Europe....
 in Britain and Louis Seize, or Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France

Louis XVI or Louis-Auguste de France ruled as List of French monarchs of France and of List of Navarrese monarchs from 1774 until 1791, and then as Popular monarchy from 1791 to 1792....
, in France. As an early-19th-century design movement in the United States, it encompassed architecture
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
, furniture
Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects which may support the human body , provide storage, or hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground....
 and other decorative art
Decorative art

The decorative arts are traditionally defined as ornamental and functional works in ceramic, wood, glass, metal, textile. The field includes Ceramics , furniture, furnishings, interior design, and architecture....
s, as well as the visual arts
Visual arts

The visual arts are Art#Art forms that focus on the creation of works which are primarily visual in nature, such as drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, and filmmaking....
.

In American furniture, the Empire style was most notably exemplified by the work of New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
 cabinetmakers Duncan Phyfe
Duncan Phyfe

File:Federal Settee.jpgDuncan Phyfe was one of 19th century America?s leading furniture makers.Born Duncan Fife in Loch Fannich, Scotland, he immigrated to Albany, New York, at age 16 and served as a cabinetmaker?s apprentice....
 and Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
-trained Charles-Honoré Lannuier
Charles-Honoré Lannuier

Charles-Honor? Lannuier, French-born American cabinetmaker , lived and worked in New York City. In Lannuier's time, the style of his furniture was described as "French Antique." Today his work is classified primarily as Federal furniture, Neoclassicism, or American Empire ....
. Other major furniture centers renowned for regional interpretations of the American Empire style were Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Many examples of American Empire cabinetmaking are characterized by antiquities-inspired carving, gilt-brass furniture mounts, and decorative inlays such as stamped-brass banding with egg-and-dart, diamond, or Greek-key patterns, or individual shapes such as stars or circles.

The most elaborate furniture in this style was made around 1815-25, often incorporating columns with rope-twist carving, animal-paw feet, anthemion, stars, and acanthus-leaf ornamentation, sometimes in combination with gilding and vert antique (antique green, simulating aged bronze). The Red Room
Red Room (White House)

The Red Room is one of three state parlors on the first floor in the White House, the home of the President of the United States. The room has served as a parlor and music room, and recent presidents have held small dinner parties in it....
 at the White House
White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian architecture and has been the executive residence of every U.S....
 is a fine example of American Empire style. A simplified version of American Empire furniture, often referred to as the Grecian style, generally displayed plainer surfaces in curved forms, highly figured mahogany veneers, and sometimes gilt-stencilled decorations. Many examples of this style survive, exemplified by massive chests of drawers with scroll pillars and glass pulls, work tables with scroll feet and 'fiddleback' chairs. Elements of the style enjoyed a brief revival in the 1890's with, particularly, chests of drawers and vanities or dressing tables, usually executed in oak and oak veneers.

This Americanized interpretation of the Napoleonic Empire style continued in popularity in conservative regions outside the major metropolitan centers well past the mid-nineteenth century.