Styles and movements

Renaissance Revival Style

1860-1890

Renaissance Revival furniture history, background and sources for buying antique furniture

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Springmeyer Brothers Renaissance Revival Dresser
Springmeyer Brothers Renaissance Revival Dresser From the archive: Springmeyer Brothers Renaissance Revival Dresser.

Renaissance Revival reverses the feminine elegance of Rococo around the time of the Civil War and gained mainstream popularity during the 1870s. Renaissance Revival design espoused masculine arches, cartouches, animal or human figures, inlaid panels, burl panels, gilt incising, and ormulu mounts. Subgenres include Egyptian Revival and Neo-Grec.

Egyptian Revival - A style drawing upon Egyptian motifs such as sphinxes, scarabs, lotus blossoms and sun discs and often employing color in contrasts.

Neo-Grec (Modern Greek, New Greek, New Grecian) - employing classical motifs borrowed from Greece, Rome and sometimes Egypt. Predominantly stylized instead of realistic, including complex pediments, medallions, columns, plinth bases, drops, cabchons, palmettes and urns. First exhibited by the French at the 1862 London Exhibition and the Paris Exposition of 1867.

Source note Rebuilt from the RareVictorian maker-site export.