Romanticism & English Literature

Rococo seating is again going to look and be Inspired by a lot of the Rococo ideas, although you're going to see Baroque forms that sneak in here So as we look at the Rococo the backs of chairs start to fall now remember we started with that chair of Estate back in the Middle Ages and with that very tall back and everything That's dropping down in part because of Hairstyles and other things where people want that above the chair back in part just sort of practicality We want to be able to move them around a space and a very short chair makes a lot more sense than a very very tall one now the first form we're going to look at is the duchess and This is actually one piece So in this case the duchess is actually this round back chair right here It's going to be upholstered as a single unit. So we have this massive rounded almost barrel back chair With upholstery all the way around whereas typically up until now We've usually seen a joint at where the back meets the arms here. It's all coming together in a single form Now the duchess Brie is actually when you have that duchess chair along with the footrest So it creates a single unit that way to kick your legs up It's very similar to the day beds that we saw in the Baroque in the in England and Then when you have the full set, it's the duchess and baton Which is actually three pieces frequently So you have an Ottoman sometimes the duchess is actually extended and includes the Ottoman as a single unit here But then you have a footstool with an end on it This could act as a low back chair, or it can act as the end of the footrest So when you have all three units, it's the duchess and baton The faute a la reine is going to be a big heavy Chair the sort of thing that you put up against a wall. It's usually intended for that purpose Now it will take on a very Baroque form This is very similar to what we saw during the Baroque period in continental furniture but we will see it's lighter cousin the faute and Cabriolet Which is meant to move around It's a more mobile chair. It's literally a lighter chair and What we see is also a spoon back on this chair So what it does if I turn it in profile is it actually scoops back and forward just slightly to capture The curve of the human back that's going to be important because it makes it a far more comfortable chair now You'll notice there is no X shaped stretcher or other stretcher bars moving along underneath it That's because with the new materials that they use they don't need that Woods like mahogany are very lightweight and surprisingly strong. Also the engineering of these sort of s-curve Legs allows them to create something that is very very sturdy and yet very very stable While looking very lightweight, which is very in the fashion for the Rococo period