Empire
Deschamps, a Parisian writer, focuses here on France and the arts of the French empire under Napoleon, with a 40-page coda on styles elsewhere in Europe and America. With his twin goals of legitimizing his rule and fostering French industry and artistic dominance, Bonaparte was the driving force in an incredibly productive period, attracting and employing the best of a talented group of architects, painters, and decorative artists. The author opens with a quick survey of the French Revolution (1789) and transition to empire by 1804; then follow chapters on furniture, interior decoration, and entertaining. The text breaks no new ground, but the illustrations are rich and well chosen. Physically, the book's large square shape, while allowing generous plate size, is awkward to handle, and the review copy came loose from its binding. Nonetheless, this is a sumptuous survey of the Napoleonic style for general readers.Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Lib.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.