The Empire Style - Spain & Portugal

Spain and Portugal
The Spanish version of the Empire style in known as Fernandino. Prince Ferdinand was arrested in 1807 for plotting to kill his father and mother. The scandal provided Napoleon with an excuse to increase the size of his army in Spain, put his brother on the throne and place Ferdinand under military guard for six years, during the War of Independence. By 1814, when Joseph had retired from the fray and Napoleon knew that his position in Spain was untenable, he had little choice but to release Ferdinand, who then reigned in a thoroughly reactionary way until 1833. This brief summary of events gives no idea of the suffering of the Spanish people during this period, but it may suggest the pattern of turmoil against which it is surprising that and handmade furniture at all was made.

Before the Napoleonic invasion, furniture in the severe Directiore style was fashionable, but under Joseph Bonaparte this gave way to the full Empire treatment, in which an extensive repertoire of ornament derived from antiquity, in carved and gilt wood or gilded bronze, was exploited - sometimes with more enthusiasm than discretion. A desk made for the King in the royal palace, Madrid, has that favourite Empire device, a large swan in full relief, as a support at each of the four corners. As turned legs are employed in addition, the swans look as though they have arrived almost by accident.

Chairs have stuffed seats and padded backs, surmounted by carved and gilt cresting rails. Sofas, especially, are comfortable - in spite of rather forbidding, overstated sphinx supports to the arms. The style gradually gave way to the Gothic Revival about 1830.

In Portugal a heavy version of the French Empire style influenced the production of fitted and non fitted furniture from around 1805, surprisingly enough in view of the unpopularity of the French invaders who had marched through Spain. After the expulsion of Napoleon's army in 1811 there was a swing towards the late Georgian and Regency styles of the English liberators. After c.1820, German influence at court encouraged a preference for the Biedermeier style.