as well suited to the dainty boudoirs of the day. All
kinds of furniture were decorated in this way--sedan chairs and even
snuff-boxes, until at last the supply became so great that the fashion
died. There are many charming examples of it to be seen in museums and
private collections, but the modern garish copies of it in many shops
give no idea of the charm of the original. Watteau's delightful
decorations also give the true spirit of the time, with their gayety
and frivolity showing the Arcadian affectations--the fad of the moment.

As the time passed decoration grew more and more ornate, and the
followers of Cressant exaggerated his traits. One of these was Jules
Aurele Meissonier, an Italian by birth, who brought with him to France
the decadent Italian taste. He had a most marvelous power of invention
and lavished ornament on everything, carrying the rocaille style to its
utmost limit. He broke up all straight lines, put curves and
convolutions everywhere, and rarely had two sides alike, for symmetry
had no charms for him. The curved endive decoration was used in
architraves, in the panels of overdoors and panel moldings, everywhere
it possibly could be used, in fact. His work was in great demand by the
king and nobility. He designed furniture of all kinds, altars, sledges,
candelabra and a great amount of silversmith's work, and also published
a book of designs. Unfortunately it is this rococo style which is meant
by many people when they speak of the style of Louis XV.

Louis XV furniture and decoration at its best period is extremely
beautiful, and the foremost architects of the day were undisturbed by
the demand for rococo, knowing it was a vulgarism of taste which would
pass. In France, bad as it was, it never went to such lengths as it did
in Italy and Spain.

[Illustration: The mantel with its great glass reaching to the cornice,
the wall panels, paintings over the doors, and beautiful furniture, all
show the spirit of the best Louis XV period. The fur rug is an
anachronism and detracts from the effect of the room.]

[Illustration: The rare console tables and chairs and the Gobelin
tapestry, "Games of Children," show to great advantage in this
beautifully proportioned room of soft dull gold. The side-and
centre-lights, reflected in the mirror, light the room correctly.]

The easy generalization of the girl who said the difference between the
styles of Louis XV and Louis XVI was like the difference in hair