|
VERNIS See also:- MARTIN (Martinus)
- MARTIN, BON LOUIS HENRI (1810-1883)
- MARTIN, CLAUD (1735-1800)
- MARTIN, FRANCOIS XAVIER (1762-1846)
- MARTIN, HOMER DODGE (1836-1897)
- MARTIN, JOHN (1789-1854)
- MARTIN, LUTHER (1748-1826)
- MARTIN, SIR THEODORE (1816-1909)
- MARTIN, SIR WILLIAM FANSHAWE (1801–1895)
- MARTIN, ST (c. 316-400)
- MARTIN, WILLIAM (1767-1810)
MARTIN , a generic name, derived from a distinguished See also:family of See also:French artist-artificers of the 18th See also:century, given to a brilliant translucent See also:lacquer extensively used in the decoration of See also:furniture, carriages, See also:sedan chairs and a multitude of small articles such as See also:snuff-boxes and fans. There were four See also:brothers of the Martin family: See also:Guillaume (d. 1749), See also:Simon See also:Etienne, See also:Julien and See also:Robert (1706-1765), the two first-named being the See also:elder. They were the See also:children of Etienne Martin, a tailor, and began See also:life as See also:coach-painters. They neither invented, nor claimed to have invented, the See also:varnish which bears their name, but they enormously improved, and eventually brought to perfection, compositions and methods of applying them which were already more or less See also:familiar. See also:Oriental lacquer speedily acquired high favour in See also:France, and many attempts were made to imitate it Some of these attempts were pass-ably successful, and we can hardly doubt that many of the examples in the See also:possession of See also:- LOUIS
- LOUIS (804–876)
- LOUIS (893–911)
- LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
- LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian
Louis XIV. at his See also:death were of
See also:European manufacture. See also:Chinese lacquer was, however, imported in large quantities, and sometimes panels were made in See also:China from designs prepared in See also:Paris, just as See also:English coats of arms were placed upon Chinese See also:porcelain in its See also:place of origin. See also:Biographical details of the career of the brothers Martin are scanty, but we know that the eldest was already in business in 1724. Their method and See also:work must have come rapidly into See also:vogue, for in 1730 Guillaume and Simon Etienne Martin were granted by letters patent a twenty years' See also:monopoly, subsequently renewed, of making " toutes sortes d'ouvrages en See also:relief de la Chine et du Japon." At the height of their fame the brothers directed at least three factories in Paris, and in 1748 they were all classed together as a " Manufacture nationale." One of them was still in existence in 1785. The literature of their See also:day had much to say of the freres Martin. In See also:Voltaire's See also:comedy of Nadine, produced in 1749, mention is made of a berline " bonne et brillante, tous See also:les panneaux See also:par Martin sont vernis "; also in his Premier discours sur l'inegalite See also:des conditions he speaks of " des lambris dores et vernis par Martin." The See also:marquis de See also:Mirabeau in L'Ami des hommes refers to the enamelled snuff-boxes and varnished carriages which came from the Martins' factory. It is the See also:fate of all the See also:great artists of the past to have had their names attached, by popular rumour or interested artifice, to a multitude of See also:works which they never saw, and the Martins have suffered considerably in this respect. That the quality of their See also:production varied between very wide limits is established by existing and undoubted examples; but it is extremely improbable that even their three factories could have turned out the See also:infinite quantity of examples that has been attributed to them. Yet their production was large and exceedingly See also:miscellaneous, for such was the rage for their lacquer that it was applied to every possible See also:object. Nor need we be surprised at a rage which was by no means confined to France. At its best Vernis Martin has a splendour of Sheen, a perfection of See also:polish, a beauty of translucence which compel the admiration due to a consummate specimen of handiwork. Every variety of the lacquer of the Far See also:East was imitated and often improved upon by the Martins—the See also:black with raised See also:gold ornaments, the red, and finally in the wonderful See also:green ground, powdered with gold, they reached the high-See also:water See also:mark of their delightful See also:art. This delicate work, poudre and wavy-lined with gold or seta with See also:flowers overlaid with transparent See also:enamel, is seen at its best on small boxes, fans, See also:needle-cases and such-like. Of the larger specimens from the Martins' factories a vast quantity has disappeared, or been cut up into decorative panels. It would appear that none of the work they placed in the famous hotels of old Paris is now in situ, and it is to museums that we must go for really See also:fine examples—to the Musee de See also:Cluny for an exquisite children's sedan See also:chair and the coach used by the French See also:ambassador to See also:Venice under Louis XV.; to the See also:Wallace collection for the tables with richly chased mounts that have been attributed to See also:Dubois; to See also:Fontainebleau for a famous commode. Even the decorations of the apartments of the dauphin at See also:Versailles, executed, or at least begun, in 1749, have vanished; so have those at Bellevue. It has been generally accepted that of the four brothers Robert Martin accomplished the most See also:original and the most completely See also:artistic work. He See also:left a son, See also:Jean See also:Alexandre, who described himself in 1767 as " Vernisseur du Roi de Prusse." He was employed at Sans Souci, but failed to continue the great traditions of his See also:father and his uncles. The Revolution finally extinguished a See also:taste which had lasted for a large See also:part of the 18th century. Since then the production of lacquer has, on the whole, been an See also:industry rather than an art. (J.
End of Article: VERNIS MARTIN
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!