The Renaissance - England - Part 2

There are several reasons for the popularity of oak and the rise in value during the 1970s. Long considered too heavy and cumbersome in modern settings, oak received a fillip from the growth of the 'second home' and 'country cottage' habit. It fitted in with new interior design standards and harmonized with the light Scandinavian look. Interest in oak was also influenced by, as well as itself influencing a boom in collecting pewter, the latter looking best in an oak setting.
In cool and temperate European climates and particularly in North America, where central heating has been found to play havoc with soft-wooden, veneered handmade furniture, oak is liked because it resists the assault of temperature, just as it can resist the onset of time and wear. Above all, as the better furniture of the 18th century became popular with collectors, soared in value and became scarce, oak remained available - and under priced.

Astonishing as it may seem, there are relatively more extant, top quality furniture from the century prior to 1650 than from the century which followed, simply because 'soft' walnut is so vulnerable in comparison with oak. Availability is patently an effective spur to collecting and oak furniture has the advantage of having been produced - by rural but nevertheless highly skilled joiners and cabinet-makers - long after the so called age of oak ended towards the close of the 17th century. Later still, the Gothic revivalists of Victorian times turned to oak, adding to the fund of material available, although some of their work appeals only to certain tastes.

England celebrates in song its traditional 'hearts of oak', but there is more to this than sentimental patriotism and a nostalgic pride in an oak-armoured navy. A strong national element in furniture expressed itself by translating the vivid and decorative forms of the European late Renaissance into staid and simple terms. Changes in thought and living styles take time to spread and the Renaissance affected England much later than Italy or France; English fitted and non fitted furniture retained its natural and somewhat rough character longer than the French. It was as though England had more time to assimilate the results of the flowering of free thought, and ideas were put into practice at a time when social, economic and political changes had created a new background. In much the same manner, American furniture of later times developed in interesting, fresh ways by being subjected to a time lag; this a European furniture style of one decade would be embraced and exploited in the Americas a decade or two later as a result of new climates of social and political feeling.

For England, therefore, the start of the 16th century and the reign of the Tudors marked a dividing line between the Middle Ages and the modern era. Europe was being influenced by the development of Renaissance free thought, education and nationalism - the last being a powerful factor in the progression of each country's furniture styles. Henry VII, intent on unifying the house of York and Lancaster, was equally determined that their respective nobility, sadly debilitated by the Wars of the Roses, should never again wield the power of earlier days. The support he gave to commerce and foreign trade, his good husbandry of national finances and his choice of new men as ministers all helped to cement the allegiance of wealthy merchants, country gentry and yeomen farmers. A new middle class was being born to stimulate and enjoy innovations and improvements in living style. And furniture was at the forefront of this trend.

The affairs of the church dominated English politics during the 16th and part of the 17th centuries. It was the church, too, which had a profound effect on the course of furniture, now antique furniture design and use. In no other area was this more apparent than that of coffers and chests, the earliest examples of case furniture.