“TRANSITION” = A STYLISM THAT LIES BETWEEN LOUIS XIV AND LOUIS XV, COMBINING ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF ONE AND THE OTHER ARTISTIC PARTY...
IN THIS SPECIFIC CASE, THE LEGS ARE LOUIS XIV (IN LOUIS XV THEY ALSO SHOW THEMSELVES TO THOSE VIEWING THE FIREPLACE FROM THE SIDE) AND THE FRONT LOUIS XV (WITH THE CLASSIC BREASTS).
BUT THE FAMILY IS THE SAME, THE BAROQUE FAMILY, MORE OR LESS IT'S LIKE A DAUGHTER INHERITING THE FACE FROM HER FATHER AND THE LEGS FROM HER MOTHER..
TRANSITION, LOUIS XIV AND LOUIS XV, BAROQUE, ART NOUVEAU, WHAT A MESS!!
BEAR WITH ME AND I WILL REVEAL THE ARCANE:
THIS MANTEL WAS NOT CARVED IN ANY OF THE STYLES MENTIONED ABOVE, “HE” WAS BORN IN THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES, ROCKED BY THE EARLY TWENTIES OF ART NOUVEAU (OR ART NOUVEAU, IF YOU PREFER)..
WHAT, IN FACT, WERE THE PARISIAN DESIGNERS OF OUR FIREPLACES DOING AT THAT TIME?
SIMPLE, TAKEN AS THEY WERE A LITTLE OFF GUARD BY THESE NEW ARTISTIC MOODS, AFRAID OF CHANGING THE LINES OF TRADITIONAL FURNISHINGS TOO MUCH, THEY CHOSE THE MOST PROFITABLE AND EFFECTIVE PATH: THEY BORROWED FROM THE PAST THE ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURES OF THE FIREPLACES THEY WERE DESIGNING AND THEN DRESSED THESE STRUCTURES IN FLORAL GUSTS... THUS THE FIRST ART NOUVEAU FIREPLACES WERE BORN ...
A LITTLE CRUDE AS AN EXPLANATION BUT I THINK IT GETS THE IDEA, OR DOES IT?
COME AND SEE IT IN PERSON, AND ON SITE IT WILL BE MUCH EASIER FOR ME TO TRY TO CLARIFY THE ARCHITECTURAL AND DECORATIVE ELEMENTS THAT MAKE UP THIS “MIDDLE STYLE”.
