Painted Chests of Drawers
During the past few years the painted chest of drawers has been, and continues to be, very fashionable. So it may be surprising to learn that painted furniture has a history nearly as long as furniture in wood finishes. Early furniture makers did not have access to the wide variety of stains, waxes, sealants, varnishes, lacquers and so forth that are available today. Indeed most early wood treatments would probably have been a coating of beeswax or tallow, simply to provide some protection from dirt and damp. Paints, such as they existed, were in a limited range of colours and used various animal, vegetable and mineral products to create colour, such as burnt limestone (making limewash), cows’ blood and dye-making plants such as the madders plant.
It appears the fashion for painting furniture might have coincided with the spread through Europe and Britain of the Renaissance and Baroque styles during the Jacobean era of the 17th Century. This was a culture that appealed to the highest standards of achievement and sophistication in all fields of human endeavour. It is easy to imagine therefore, the appreciation people would have had for the skills involved first in creating paint, then successfully applying it to wood, and ultimately in producing items such as a painted chest of drawers that looked so completely different from the wooden furniture that had been the norm.
Painted furniture for Puritans
The Puritan movements – and the English Commonwealth under Cromwell – eschewed any form of frivolity or lavish lifestyle so it might be thought that painted furniture would have fallen foul of this outlook, but this turned out not to be the case. When the Protestant movements such as the Shakers emigrated to America they took examples of painted chests of drawers with them and also made painted furniture after arriving in the New World. The trend for Shaker style to move away from painted furniture is attributed to Henry Lapp of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania who copied the unpainted style of his Welsh neighbours.
During the Gothic Revival of Victorian times it might be supposed that dark oak was the universal finish for the furniture of the well-to-do, but famous designers of the period such as William Burges (1827 – 1881) were responsible for highly decorated painted furniture, often in styles of an imagined medieval age.
The divergence into contemporary and shabby chic
In more recent times, painted furniture has undergone something of a divergence into two distinct categories: contemporary and shabby chic. The contemporary styles of painted chests of drawers and painted furniture in general have simple lines and minimal decoration. Some feature tops or flat, horizontal surfaces in wood finishes. This furniture is usually painted in light colours such as cream or ivory and is great for adding light and brightness to a room. The uniformity of the finish also helps to reduce the prominence of the furniture itself and focus more attention on the soft furnishings and room accessories. It is a popular choice for bathrooms, conservatories and interiors aiming for a fresh, seaside appeal.
Shabby chic painted furniture, also referred to as French-style or French painted furniture has a completely different ancestry and purpose. The origins of its popularity in Britain lie in the 1950s and 1960s when, in an attempt at a fairer distribution of the nation’s wealth, taxation of landowners and the owners of grand properties was greatly increased. The effect of this, together with shortages of cheap skilled labour, meant that many of the larger, more affluent homes could no longer be maintained to the necessary standard.
Gradually it became acceptable and then fashionable, to have interiors furnished with elegant pieces that were not just patinated with age but had a distinctly worn appearance – the shabby chic look was born. This applied to both painted and wood finished furniture but, as the look became more fashionable and was created deliberately, most of the painted furniture was sourced from France where painted Rococo styles had remained popular amongst the rural population long after its passing elsewhere.
The genuine faded antiques and painted sideboards could not supply the growing demand, so an industry has grown up around producing new furniture that has many of the style attributes of the faded elegant, shabby chic furniture.