The French Empire Style

by Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios

 Paul Hamlyn Cameo Art Series

Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1970, ISBN 060001245, colour photographic plates throughout, hardcover, dust-jacket

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, dust-jacket minor edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing to edges and corners, minor markings (see photographs)

"French art during the first fifteen years of the 19th century was obsessed with the god-like figure of Napoleon.  Every painting and every object was intended to celebrate his glory.  The society of the Empire period was quite different from that of the first feverish post-revolutionary years.  The new establishment was no longer content with the delicate whims of the earlier Directoire style; it now wanted extravagant decoration, triumphal furnishings and monumental architecture.  Gold, bronze, mahogany and silk were the materials of the Empire style."