The Baroque Era - France - 5

In 1685 the king issued an order requiring all furniture arrival in the royal palaces to be entered in a day book (Journal du Garde-Meubles), which was maintained more or less consistently until the outbreak of the Revolution, and provides a mass of information about the pieces and their makers. Sadly, not all the handmade furniture itself has survived. All that is known to exist from the output of Cucci, for example, is a pair of ebony cabinets made around 1681 to 1683 for Versailles and now at Alnwick Castle in England. Most of his work was sold in the 18th century and broken up, to be cannibalized by other cabinet-makers - not an uncommon practice.

Although there are thousands of pieces of fitted and non fitted furniture in existence which go by the name of 'Boulle' because they are decorated in the style he made famous, the vast majority are of a much later date, the technique being continued both in France and elsewhere during the 18th and 19th centuries. A few pieces can be attributed fairly confidently to Boulle himself but the only fully documented examples are two commodes made for the king in around 1708 to 1709. The commode of bombe (blown out, swollen) form, which was to become so important a feature of Continental furniture in the 18th century, was at least partly invented by Boulle.
He retired in 1718 but a fire destroyed his workshops, stock and collection of art, ruining him financially and forcing him to return to work.

Louis XIV issued another order in 1685, revoking the Edict of Nantes and thereby withdrawing protection from the Huguenots. This had a profound effect on the arts and crafts in Europe. Thousands of French protestants sought refuge abroad. Among those to flee were Pierre Golle and his brother Adrian, also a skilled cabinet-maker, who returned to Holland. Their nephew, Daniel Marot (1663 - 1752), who probably worked for Boulle, was Paris-born but also left for the Netherlands. These were just a few of the most distinguished craftsmen of their time to leave France hurriedly, after lending their talents to the creation of the Louis XIV style. France's loss was the rest of Europe's gain.