st the
influence of the French school, when the bombe-fronted commodes and curved
lines of chair and table came into fashion.

Having described somewhat in detail the styles which prevailed and some of
the changes which occurred in France, from the time of Louis XIV. until
the Revolution, it is unnecessary for the purposes of this sketch, to do
more than briefly refer to the work of those countries which may be said
to have adopted, to a greater or less extent, French designs. For reasons
already stated, an exception is made in the case of our own country; and
the following chapter will be devoted to the furniture of some of the
English designers and makers of the latter half of the eighteenth century.
Of Italy it may be observed generally that the Renaissance of Raffaele,
Leonardo da Vinci, and Michael Angelo, which we have seen became
degenerate towards the end of the sixteenth century, relapsed still
further during the period which we have been discussing, and although the
freedom and grace of the Italian carving, and the elaboration of inlaid
arabesques, must always have some merit of their own, the work of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Italy will compare very
unfavourably with that of the earlier period of the Renaissance.

[Illustration: A Norse Interior, Shewing Chairs of Dutch Design. Period:
Late XVII. or Early XVIII. Century.]

There are many other museum specimens which might be referred to to prove
the influence of French design of the seventeenth and subsequent centuries
on that of other countries. The above illustration of a Norse interior
shews that this influence penetrated as far as Scandinavia; for while the
old-fashioned box-like bedsteads which the Norwegians had retained from
early times, and which in a ruder form are still to be found in the
cottages of many Scottish counties, especially of those where the
Scandinavian connection existed, is a characteristic mark of the country,
the design of the two chairs is an evidence of the innovations which had
been made upon native fashions. These chairs are in style thoroughly
Dutch, of about the end of the seventeenth or early in the eighteenth
century; the cabriole legs and shell ornaments were probably the direct
result of the influence of the French on the Dutch. The woodcut is from a
drawing of an old house in Norwav.

[Illustration: Secretaire, In King and Tulip Wood, with Sevres Plaques and
Ormolu Mountings. Period: Early Louis XVI.]