Along with the other arts and culture, furniture designs too saw a rebirth following the Italian Renaissance. The inspiration for this often came from the ancient art forms of Greece and Rome.



"Renaissance" is French for rebirth, applied to art and culture. It began and took shape in Italy at about this time. Then spread to the rest of Europe.

But the political order was shaky in 15th century France. Homes needed light, portable furniture. Folding chairs were in use, and most furniture used textiles. Then life gained stability.

An effect of this was what we call French Renaissance furniture taking shape. By early 16th century, it was pretty much the same in France as what was happening in Italy. Italian craftsmen worked across France. Their ideas went into the local artisans' work.

Until that time, the fine arts were no more than a craft. Renaissance thought, and chiefly Plato, promoted education. And the fine arts became central to this new interest. The artist (and the artisan) became an important man of ideas in the social order.

With its control over Italy, France was open to the winds of change in Italian art. Italians brought into France a new kind of interior decoration. François I engaged Leonardo da Vinci and many others. They were to enhance the decor of his chateaus and hunting lodges. Francesco Primaticcio, along with Rosso Fiorentino, worked most of his life on the chateau. The lower section of walls of the chateau has the usual oak paneling. Above are stucco reliefs and frescoes.

In French furniture, early 16th century brought the dresser, a new form of the stepped buffet or sideboard. The upper part had two doors. At times, it also had two drawers below. It rested on pilasters or on a base with doors. In later designs, the upper section was stepped back. It had caryatid style carved human figures for supports.

The trestle table of the middle ages with detachable top was still much in use. Later, France adopted the Italian center table, built in wood, though. It was mainly an ornamental piece with a carved skirting to support the table top. These supports had human figures, griffins or chimeras, placed back to back. The supports were joined near the floor.

Beyond this, there was not much innovation in the types of French furniture. French furniture in any case, had always had more of the Gothic drift about it. This went on right into the early Renaissance period. This was its only real difference.

Having given birth to a distinct period style, creativity faded toward the end of the 16th century. Very little of the earlier French Gothic furniture has survived.