18Th Century, Birth Of Design: Furniture Masterpieces 1650-1790

Exhibition at the Château de Versailles, 21 October 2014 - 22 February 2015

This exhibition catalogue gathers around a hundred exceptional and particularly significant pieces of furniture, illustrating the evolution of luxury furniture in France since the first half of the 17th century to the French Revolution. It consists of four chapters: 17th century, Regence and Louis XV style, Greek or Transition style, Louis XVI style.
Selected furniture, coming from private or public collections, French or foreign, were created by great artists of the time: André Charles Boulle, Antoine Robert Gaudreaus, Charles Cressent, Bernard II Vanrisamburgh, Jean François Oeben, Jean Henri Riesener or Georges Jacob, cabinetmakers who had a taste for luxury and innovation, prefiguring the artistic process of contemporary designers.
Each piece of furniture has an historical and stylistic note testifying of its importance. The catalogue is accompanied by a biographic directory of the carpenters and cabinetmakers who created this furniture.