This table was once thought to have been designed by the French rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) for his villa in Grasse, in southern France.

One of the most important acquisitions in the history of the Institute is the Louis XVI salon to be opened as Gallery B-23 on the ground floor of the South wing. The boiserie and some of the chief furnishings were purchased through the Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund, the boiserie being at one time part of the hotel particulier of the late Lucien Guitry, generally acknowledged to be France's foremost actor at the time of his death two years ago.The importance of the addition of this exquisite little salon to the group of period rooms in the Institute cannot be overemphasized, for it brings to Minneapolis a truly perfect example of one of the grand styles of decorative art. In its justness of proportion, its richness of detail, its sheer graciousness and charm, this room is unique. Furthermore, it brings the Institute a long step nearer its goal of representing the chief epochs of design by means of typical interiors, thus conveying to the spectator a more real and more vivid conception of the manner in which the people of the time lived.The room has been built into the South wing at the culminating point of a series of period study rooms representing the XVIII century in France. These three galleries, although not themselves complete period salons, contain objects typical of the century from the Regency to the Revolution. In them one may trace the evolution of design as it broke down the heavy formality of Louis XIV, burst into the joyous freedom of rocaille, and then, enamored of the antique, sobered to the rarely beautiful style we know as Louis XVI.The last of the preliminary rooms, Gallery B-24, with its paneled bedroom alcove, gives a foretaste of what is to come. Here we find the sober simplicity and the straight architectural lines of the style as it was adapted to the provinces and a less replete pocketbook. And yet, fine as it is, it is only a faint adumbration of the period's rich and dignified luxury in its full Parisian flower, when taste was at its apogee, and no expense was spared to attain perfection.Let us enter the antechamber and make a preliminary survey of the new gallery. The antechamber itself is bare of ornament, save for the low relief of paneled French grey walls, intentionally unobstrusive. From the antechamber, two doors, each formed of two leaves, open into the salon itself. Passing through these we find ourselves suddenly transported into the heart of the ancien regime.The Louis XVI StyleIn this room is crystallized the very essence of the Gallic spirit. Its relentless logic is apparent in the perfection of the proportions, which at once stimulate and soothe the eye. And yet its love of elegance, of ease, of grace, never to be denied, is patent in the rich moldings, the cornices, the elaborate mirror frames. Here Gallic exuberance is channeled and disciplined, and hence doubly effective. This interior sums up the ages as no single painting, no isolated statue could possibly do. It is France itself, just before the deluge.This was the age of the salon, this second half of the XVIII century. No world-stirring events ruffled the even tenor of French court life. The long reign of the world-weary Louis XV was drawing to a close. His grandson, Louis XVI, succeeded him in 1874. To be sure, the court found little more incentive in this easy-going, incompetent successor to abandon its life of luxury and indolence, but there was a gathering unrest and intellectual curiosity apparent even in the most effete society—stirrings that presaged a new day. The godless Voltaire still raked the civilized world with barbed shafts from his retreat at Ferney, and Rousseau was preaching the charms of nature unadorned and the noble simplicity of antiquity. Diderot, beset on every side by the enemies of enlightenment, was heroically trying to finish his encyclopedia. Madam Geoffrin, a bourgeoisie be it noted, conducted one of the most frequented salons of the time. And back of all, gathering momentum but still unperceived by the nobility, was the rising storm that burst into the Revolution before the close of the century.It was an ideal period for the development of the minor arts, and French craftsmen made the most of it. There were still great patrons who knew how to spend their money like grands seigneurs, and disdained to haggle, as did the war profiteers after the Revolution, over pennies. They had background, they had taste; they paid handsomely and the artisans of France did not fail them, artisans of the quality of Brizard, Cramer, and the Jacob family.The Louis XVI period in decoration really began well before the death of his predecessor. Nomenclature always lags behind chronology. As early as 1749, Madame de Pompadour, a convert to the beauties of the classical style, sent her brother to Italy to form his taste by a study of the Renaissance preparatory to becoming superintendent of the Beaux Arts to Louis XV. In 1758 Leroy had published his Ruines des plus beaux monuments de la Grece.Even before that the Mercure de France had published a witty attack on the extravagance of the rococo which had a profound effect on the public mind. It was apparent that scrolls and cabriole legs and a profusion of ornamental curves were about to go out of fashion.What struck the popular imagination most, however, were the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum. Archaeology was being made over again. The spirit of classicism, rather than its actual forms, as in the Empire period, suffused French design and thus, almost in a decade, the whole French attitude of mind towards interior decoration was changed. Curved lines became straight, elaborate panels became plain. All the vocabulary of ornament of the Greeks and Romans was borrowed, but refined and transformed with typical French tact. The grand style known as Louis Seize was born.The BoiserieThe Louis XVI salon in the Institute is composed of oak panels painted a soft green. The lines of the paneling are strictly rectangular, yet the overdoors and the oval panels crowning the mirror frames retain the earlier curved forms. These overdoors consist of plaster lunettes, modeled in low relief, and partially gilded. They are four in number, all varying slightly in design, the principal motif being two figures, male and female, terminating in acanthus scrolls and separated by an antique tripod bearing a perfume burner.Each of the four doors is surrounded with bands of carving in low relief, gilded, as was the custom on formal rooms of the kind, and consisting of variations on the guilloche, acanthus and ribbon-and-rosette motifs. Surmounting each door is a cornice and architectural consoles. Each door-leaf is divided into three well-balanced panels, the top panel bearing the intertwined initials "FJ" on one side and "HC" on the other, presumably standing for the name of the original owner, now unknown, and his wife.Facing the spectator as he enters the room from the main building is a chimney piece surmounted by a mirror heavily framed in gilded carving of floral design. A second and larger mirror, full length, is placed between the two French doors at the West and similarly ornamented. The chimney piece of tan and cream marble, foreshadowing the Directoire period, has columnar supports, above which are blocks carved with rosettes. A center panel displays graceful rinceaux.All the carved ornament in the moldings and in the door panels is gilded to contrast with the light background, and the use on the stiles of a darker tone of green than on the fields of the panels is characteristic of French XVIII century decoration. The slight variation makes a more pleasing and subtle scheme. Rarely does one see gilding as beautiful in color or as well applied to the carved oak which it covers.All the ornament is of a rather fine scale, to harmonize with its architectural setting. A jewel-like working of form, whether in wood, bronze or marble, is typical of the style and one of its chief charms. Fortunately, this room belongs to the period when the style was at its height, in contrast to the dry and rigid interpretation of the antique which followed. Tripods, arrows, torches and quivers mingle with dainty ribboned garlands, floral swags, arabesques and rinceaux in a delightful interplay of line and color.Were the original owner of the room only known to us, it might provide a key to the discreet variation of ornament which occurs at strategic points about the room. Each of the lunettes over the door is made into a rectilinear design by means of an egg-and-dart molding and a triangle containing the conventional flower, leaf and ribbon motif. This is not an infrequent treatment, but above each lunette, in the center, are arrangements of crossed implements of warfare—in one case a quiver of arrows and a studded club, in another a bow and torch, and in a third a club and poniard. These symbols, however, were comparatively frequent in the period and may have no personal significance.The FurnitureOf the articles of furniture and adornment in the room, by far the most important are a portrait of Count de Cheverny by Francois-Hubert Drouais and a gilt and marble console table. The former, an important acquisition for the painting collection, will be discussed more fully in a forthcoming issue of the Bulletin.The console, however, may appropriately by mentioned here. It is an important piece and has a distinguished history. In all probability designed by the painter Jean-Honore Fragonard himself, it remained for many years in the Villa Malvilan at Grasse to which he retired as an old man when the tide of Revolution had swept away the France he knew and loved. It has, therefore, a double interest, both for the name of its designer, and as an example of Louis XVI style of the most highly developed type.The top is of breche d'Aleppe marble, the frame and stretchers are classical in style bur covered with a bewildering profusion of ornament. The legs, although straight, employed as a variation of the columnar type, and are entwined with laurel, symbol of victory. The legs in front are double. A slight curve appears in the stretcher, which is a variation of the H shape, and was doubtless a concession on Fragonard's part to the mid-century style. The stretcher supports at its crossing a large classical vase with a Greek border, surmounted with an acorn finial, and draped with floral garlands and laurel sprays. In every part of the design are elaborate floral swags remarkable for their unusually deep cutting.On the mantel are to be found two Sevres flower pots with ormolu bases, the porcelain part decorated with floral garlands in bleu du roi and gold. In the two panels on the South wall have been placed gilt bronze appliqués or candle brackets, consisting of rods entwined with ivy and acanthus leaves. In the center hangs a crystal chandelier of the Louis XVI type, comparatively simple in design but with pendants of varied shape.Two very important period chairs, signed by G. Jacob and lent by Wildenstein and Company, of New York, are placed against the South wall. These are covered with the original Beauvais tapestry in floral, bird and animal design.Few styles of furniture have had such a widespread influence as that of Louis XVI. Much of the American colonial is derived from it, usually in a simplified form. It has persisted, perhaps, because it satisfies so fully the requirements of home life; comfort, dignity and grace. It is formal without being heavy. It is rich and varied, without being bizarre. Yet, so graciously and harmoniously are the proportions achieved, that it never gives the sense of coldness.Referenced Work of Art

1. South wall of Louis XVI room, recently purchased from the income of the Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund
2. Console table of the Louis XVI period richly carved and gilded. Probably designed by Fragonard
3. Doorway, one of four in the Louis XVI salon
4. Overdoor lunette in plaster and gilt showing strong classical influence
5. Detail of door showing initials of original owner
6. Detail of door showing richly carved cornice and upper panels