The influence of all this on the art expression of the time was tremendous. It resulted in constant changes in decorative style, and these changes were made upon the already developed backgrounds of Louis XIV and the regency. Some new buildings were erected, and these, like those of the preceding reigns, still show the strongly intrenched classic influence in the architectural field.

The interiors were a modification of the previous styles with the elimination of the classic idea and the fullest development of the humanistic, naturalistic, rocaille idea inaugurated by the regency. Such rooms seldom present a background sufficiently obscure or plain to connect in the best way with the furniture and furnishings for which they should have been designed.

This statement in no way challenges the beauty of some of the walls and ceilings of this period. Rather it is intended to convey the idea that the panelled arrangements and the decorative ornament each in itself is often exquisitely beautiful in composition and decorative effect, but they are not, unless greatly simplified in amount, in colour and in arrangement, suited to our problem of a background against which modern people in modern clothes and with modern manners are to appear.

One more important step in the evolution of the background is the simpler way in which the walls were panelled, the treatment of ornament within these panels often leaving a restful blank space in the centre, and the general structural placing of this ornament although curve lined in its nature and general feeling.

This period is further characterized by the total elimination of the classic motif. It seems quite impossible to believe that the building of the Great Trianon, the Church of the Madeline, and the beginning of the Little Trianon with its classic meaning should show nothing in the interior decorative idea that seemed wholly related to them. Not only are the motifs absent but the general feeling which they would insure is lost in the exploitation of the rocaille and the naturalistic motif. These motifs always appear in the non-bisymmetric arrangement, which in truth is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the period of Louis XV. The marvellous way in which the occult balance of motifs is worked out in each field of expression is the key often for distinguishing the Louis XV from the Louis XVI motif treatment.

Furniture followed quite closely the structural tendencies of the regency just preceding. It became smaller in scale, still more graceful and sensuous, was expressed in more materials, and ranged widely from very much decorated to very little decorated structural effects. Chairs, divans, consoles and even cabinets and other articles, are made in natural walnut, beautifully shaped, exquisitely carved and sometimes upholstered in tapestry whose texture, motif and colour express the same general feeling as that of the natural wood.

One can hardly conceive wooden chairs of this period covered with fragile taffeta or a finely felt brocade whose texture and colour relate them to quite another type of this period style. It is the natural companion of the other type which is either gilded or enamelled in old ivory or beautiful grays. This treatment has the effect of refining them and giving them a genuinely feminized appearance. The same qualities are often found in a scale still further reduced where the chairs are fitted only for a drawing-room or a woman's boudoir.

The wide range of materials in which furniture is made is of great assistance in the choice and use of this style in modern composition. Another treatment of wood in side pieces is found in lacquer and the application of a metal ornament. This combination of wood lacquer and metal would seem most incongruous. In other periods it would be so; but in the period of Louis XV powerful technique with a perfect conception of balanced relationships made it possible to use even incongruous materials and sometimes incongruous motifs. The result was, sometimes, a most appealing article, which, by virtue of these qualities, appeared to be a unit when completed. It would be dangerous, however, in most cases, to accept as possible the combinations in decorative materials used in the period of Louis XV.

For the motifs themselves much may be said. To understand the feeling produced by the union of the ideas which these motifs exemplified one must bear in mind the development of the rocaille unit with all sorts of modifications and in all kinds of combinations. It seems incredible that the shell or rock shell motif could be combined with the Flemish scroll, and not only express an unlimited number of subtle and sensuous designs but also that these decorative designs should finally take the place of the very structure itself. So prodigally was this idea developed, and so lavishly was the decorative quality applied, that in many pieces, particularly in consoles, the motif became the structural fact and the supports were inadequate, insincere, inconsistent and wholly opposed to the idea of strength, fitness or structural form.

A BEAUTIFUL ROOM IN THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XV

A BEAUTIFUL ROOM IN THE PERIOD OF LOUIS XV, IN WHICH THE WALLS SEEK TO EXPRESS THE DECORATIVE IDEA RATHER THAN THE FURNITURE AND FITTINGS. THE QUALITIES OF LOUIS XV IN LINE, FORM AND ORNAMENT, ARE SHOWN IN A MOST REFINED WAY. STRENGTH IS GIVEN THROUGH THE USE OF WOOD PANELS.

This fact shows that the intemperate or inordinate use of any decorative form, or of decorative forms in any combination, may lead even the most careful into a misconception of what decoration is, how it is to be used, and what its relation is to the structural idea. Where fitness to use is the first consideration in any object made, structure must dominate decoration.

The second set of motifs may be called the naturalistic. All of the tendencies of the time led to an admiration for and cultivation of natural objects, particularly in gardens and grounds, which logically brought these things into use for decorative purposes. The influences, too, outside of France (the Oriental and the Decadent Italian) tended toward the representation of men, animals and flowers combined in one unit or one object in such a way that by suggestion the result was either nauseating, grotesque, or beautifully fantastic, according to the skill of the artisan.