Massive silver[10] furniture, which seems to have originated in Spain, and to have crossed the Pyrenees with Anne of Austria, the daughter of Philip III., became extremely popular at court and with those of Louis’s courtiers who could afford such a luxury. When Charles II. ascended the English throne, and brought with him from France all the styles of Louis XIV., silver furniture was introduced into the country, some of which is still preserved.
Doubtless the richness and beauty of these rare articles developed the taste for carved and gilded wood. Its use was not confined to the wealthy; in comparatively modest dwellings and hôtels the frames of the seats, mirrors, tables, consoles, etc., were carved elaborately and gilded. It is probably owing to this dazzling and glittering effect of gilded wood that has caused critics to refer to the preceding style of Louis XIII. as “sombre.” The luxury and splendours of the court penetrated to the middle classes, who adopted all the styles of the day. It was not long before great changes in interior decorations were sufficiently apparent to attract the notice of contemporary writers. La Bruyère speaks of the preceding reign when copper and pewter had not been supplanted by silver. The enormous and monumental chimney-piece which reached to the cornice, a typical example of which is shown in the frontispiece, was banished for the “_petite cheminée_,” or little chimney-piece. Mirrors now made at the Gobelin manufactory became far more common, having been brought within the reach of many who could not afford the hitherto unrivalled glasses made in Venice. The flags and tiles were now superseded by floors of inlaid woods, or parquetry, and the tapestries and embossed leather that adorned the walls in the preceding period were gradually succeeded by painted and gilt panels. There was a tendency everywhere for lighter hues. This taste had already reached high expression in the Marquise de Rambouillet, who astonished everyone with her “Blue Parlour,” which was decorated and draped in the colour of the sky.
It must not be imagined, however, that tapestry was rejected. The magnificent productions of the Gobelins reproducing in their bold colours the pictures of Le Brun, Van der Meulen, and others, made superb wall-decorations for the homes of the wealthy; and those who did not care for the hunting-scenes, war-scenes, mythological subjects, or allegories, could select Bérain’s fine “arabesques.” We notice, however, some new colours that were extremely popular. These were particularly the yellowish pink hue of dawn, called aurora, flame-colour, flesh-colour, and amaranth, a purplish red such as occurs in the common flowers, Love-lies-bleeding and Prince’s Feather. These colours occur chiefly in the sumptuous brocades and damasks from Lyons, Genoa and Flanders that were used to line the walls, for covering the seats, and draping the great beds.