What is the difference between louis xiv and louis xvi

During the second half of the 18th-century, French furniture underwent a Neoclassical revision. Restrained, geometrical forms were preferred to the twirled, freehand designs of Rococo, and stylized references to classical Greek architecture abounded.

All drawings courtesy of the Smithsonian Digital Archives. Put your newfound knowledge to the test and see how many items you can correctly date while shopping French seating pieces on 1stdibs.

No more stories to load; check out Introspective Magazine. Follow Us. A field guide for anyone who wants to brush up on their knowledge of French antiques. While it is difficult and costly to find authentic 17th and 18th-century pieces, finding antique, vintage and contemporary items influenced by these styles could not be easier on your efforts or your wallet. Shopping estate sales, of course. No crown or scepter required.

Find a Blue Moon sale near you. See All News. Posted: May 11 , in. Approximately Chairs resemble thrones with high backs, intricately carved accents and straight legs connected by H or X-shaped stretchers.

Materials communicated wealth and included precious stones, tortoiseshell, brass, bronze, pewter, precious metals, ivory and exotic woods.

Pieces were designed to be symmetrical, balanced and contained. Popular motifs included festoons, garlands, dolphins, cartouches, satyrs, cherubs and mythological themes. About This style is highly ornamental. Chairs had rounded backs, padded seating, intricately carved surfaces, curved cabriole legs and spiraling whorl feet.

As a result, he presented himself as being very indecisive. Only 20 years old at the time, Louis XVI was immature and lacked self-confidence. While Louis XVI wanted to be a good king and help his subjects, he faced enormous debt and rising resentment towards a despotic monarchy.

His failure to successfully address serious fiscal problems would dog him for most of his reign. Louis lacked sufficient strength of character and decisiveness to combat the influence of court factions or give support to reformers in their efforts to improve France's government. By the mids the country was near bankruptcy, which forced the king to support radical fiscal reforms not favorable with the nobles or the people. When the pressure mounted, Louis XVI reverted to his earlier teaching of being austere and uncommunicative, posing no solution to the problem and not responding to others who offered help.

By , the situation was deteriorating rapidly. In May , Louis XVI convened the Estates General to address the fiscal crisis, an advisory assembly of different estates or socio-economic classes the clergy, the nobility and the commoners. The meeting did not go well. By June, the Third Estate declared itself the National Assembly, aligned with the bourgeoisie and set out to develop a constitution.

Initially, Louis XVI resisted, declared the Assembly null and void and called out the army to restore order. Public dissension grew, and a National Guard formed to resist the King's actions. By July , he was forced to acknowledge the National Assembly's authority. On July 14, riots broke out in Paris and crowds stormed the Bastille prison in a show of defiance toward the King. The day is now commemorated in France as a national holiday and the start of the French Revolution. For a time, it seemed that Louis XVI could mollify the masses by saying that he would acquiesce to their demands.

However, he accepted bad advice from the nobility's hard-line conservatives and his wife, Marie Antoinette. He talked of reform but resisted demands for it. The royal family was forcibly transferred from Versailles to Paris on October 6, Louis ignored advice from advisors and refused to abdicate his responsibilities as king of France, agreeing to a disastrous attempt to escape to the eastern frontier in June He and his family were brought back to Paris, and he lost all credibility as a monarch.