Gertrud D
(click 2 times on the photo)

Gertrud D Galleries -
Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 33
1017 DC Amsterdam - NL

In the hallway: a 19th century French gas lamp,and
...(no photo) 2 beautiful 19th century giltwood and gesso mirrors from France

Staircase - in front of room 5

Lithography from the Dutch painter Corneille

Detail of the Persian Carpet in the Reception

Dutch Pride

Detail of an Italian Plate from Derruta

Madame Récamier,the Darling of Europe.

Portrait of J.Récamier by Jacques-Louis David at the Louvre (1800).
This style of sofa came to be associated with her, and to this day is known as The Récamier.

Jeanne-Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard Récamier (4 December 1777 - 11 May 1849) was a French woman who was a leader of the literary and political circles of the early 19th century.
Her salon in Paris was one of the chief resorts of literary and political society that pretended to fashion.
Mme Récamier was eventually exiled from Paris by the orders of Napoleon I.

David: Napoleon in His Study (1812), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

EMPIRE STYLE
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)


The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, probably the most famous example of Empire architecture.
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. The style originated in and takes its name from the period when Napoleon I ruled France, known as the First French Empire, where it was intended to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state. An earlier phase of the style was called the Adam style in Great Britain and "Louis Seize" or Louis XVI, in France.
The Empire style was based on aspects of the Roman Empire and its many archaeological treasures which had been rediscovered starting in the 18th century. The preceding Louis XVI and Directoire styles employed straighter, simpler designs in comparison with the Rococo style of the 1700s. Empire designs heavily influenced THE AMERICAN FEDERAL STYLE (such as the United States CAPITOL building), and both were forms of propaganda through architecture. It was A STYLE OF THE PEOPLE, not ostentatious but sober and evenly balanced. The style was considered to have "liberated" and "enlightened" architecture just as Napoleon "liberated" the peoples of Europe with his Napoleonic Code.

Napoleon-Bonaparte-on-the-Bridge-at-Arcole by Antoine-Jean Gros, (ca. 1801), Louvre, Paris (The Battle of Arcole 15-17 November 1796).

EMPIRE PERIOD 1793-1830

The chief material for furniture of this period was mahogany, both solid and in veneer. The types of design are of two kinds, one the Egyptian, the other the Classical. Both motives are so intermixed as to be difficult to distinguish from each other. The lines were mostly straight. It has frankly been said by one critic that "the style of the Empire period is least interesting and least French of all of the styles developed in France. " Strictly speaking, the Empire period means Napoleon. In construction it was heavy by comparison with other styles. Its influence, however, spread to other parts of Europe and to America. In 1808 a book was published in England, containing designs mostly copied from French Empire patterns, which did much to popularize the style there. However, it lacks every one of the qualities that give charm to the French Empire Period. The furniture of the French depended largely for its excellent effect upon the beautifully chased, classic ormolu mounts with which it was lavishly decorated, and by the rich and vivid colorings in. upholstery, contrasted with the mahogany and ormolu. Deep green, red, royal blue and purple were the colors used. The chairs were of simple construction and small; tables were usually round with marble tops and with a central carved pillar with three carved feet on the floor. The beds of the period approach more nearly the modern type. Simplicity of style and rather heavy design were characteristic of this period.
From: Encyclopedia of Antiques