History's Artistic Eras:  English Country Furniture of Today

English country furniture finds its inspiration many phases of the history: from Renaissance to Baroque and Victorian age. Today's pieces that come from these old ages are highly appreciated as genuine antiques, representing a different perspective of the country look: austere, formal and scholar. Still, English country furniture presents variations: Indian and tropical influence in the old colonial Britain, or the unfinished, rustic craft produced in workshops through the country.

The early English furniture, a base of today's English country furniture, was revealed under Queen Elizabeth, when new furniture was added to existing "second hand" items. Ambries, the same as beds and cupboards today, were constructed into walls, as were benches and settles. During the Renaissance, most of the decorative motifs were halted and the furniture remained simple. The baroque ages brought even heavier furniture, but more carving was introduced and detail became fashionable. The items were made of oak and at the end of the 17th century, the walnut was imported from Virginia and became the basic material.

The Georgian era brought a freedom of design and styles and the Rocco style developed a heavy production at the beginning of the 18th century, when the French playful look was borrowed. Neoclassicism brought a new style characterized by symmetrical lines, attractive proportions, geometric shapes and a wealth of detail, opposed to the Rocco era.

More similar to the English country furniture of nowadays there are the Victorian ages, with the eclectic style combined different styles, into a confusing, yet great-looking mixture: Renaissance, Jacobean and Gothic all continued through most of the 19th century as eclectic. Iron, coal and satinwood were all used both in decor and furniture and asymmetric objects were harmonically combined with standard symmetrical ones.

Art nouveau revealed the "wistful and foliate," a term famous in the era for the Parisian influence. This continued with the French movement art deco that was a reaction to the sinuous style and reintroduced straight lines into furniture, chromed steels, ebony and even sharkskin. The colors that were predominant in all these artistic periods were burgundy and dark reds, chrome color and bronzed glow, various blacks and iron derivates, mainly dark colors, fitting with the sumptuous style.

English country furniture consists mainly of antiques dating from these artistic eras. The English country furniture and style is hard to define, as the currents opposed to each other through history, causing sometimes cultural reactions.