The luxurious trappings of elite life

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Paris, Life and Luxury in the Eighteenth Century

Edited by Charissa Bremer-David

Today, Charissa Bremer-David tells us, ‘luxury’ signifies ‘quality, prestige and costliness’ applied to ‘a broad class of finely designed commodities …that exceed the needs and means of average consumers’ such as private jets, sports cars and haute couture.  But its current meaning and use blinds us to its historical roots: ‘luxury’ was a standard of living which persons of a certain class in 17th- and 18th-century France were expected to meet and others of a lesser station were not to try to emulate.

 To give the reader an understanding of the luxury lifestyle of the 18th century and what it took to uphold it, the book explores contemporary writing, inventories, floor plans, paintings, sculpture, furniture, and dress.  With ‘time’ as a linking theme, the text takes a ‘day in the life’ approach: each essay focuses on a particular point in the day examining the activities that took place and the objects used. 

To start, Bremer-David looks at the day as a whole and how it was defined and experienced by those who lived it. The author takes in the changing seasons and resultant lamp-lighting, and the technical evolution of the communal clock and consequent increased public temporal awareness.  She discusses how time marked and regulated the traditions and rituals of the elite lifestyle and how this was reinforced by the intricate, complex and beautifully decorated clocks that became a staple in their homes. 

Next, Joan DeJean, of University of Pennsylvania, considers the layout of the homes and furniture of the Parisian elite.  There is a fascinating section on the evolution of the bedroom.  Before the 18th century, the bedroom as we know it (a space for a good night’s sleep) did not exist.  The bed, complete with heavy drapes on all sides to block out drafts, was moved to whichever room was deemed most suitable.  The only room which could be thought of as a bedroom was the display or parade bedroom, which was in fact a ceremonial space in which the master or mistress could receive guests while positioned on the bed. 

It was in 18th-century Paris that the concept of a private bedroom came into being.  The new bedroom was designed with comfort in mind.  Smaller and less grand than the display bedroom, it necessitated specially designed furniture and a new garment called a dressing gown, which became de rigueur indoor day wear. 

Moving from night to morning, Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell considers the ritual of toilette, in which family, friends and servants gathered while the female of noble birth rose and dressed.  This distinctly feminine ritual involved brushes with Sèvres porcelain handles, silver dishes and mirrors, lacquered boxes and the dressing table, covered by a lace toile.

 In the fourth essay Peter Björn Keber discusses the afternoon and the activity of reading.  Reading for self-improvement was popular among the elite, convinced that they could traverse the path to greater virtuousness through studying written examples of good works. 

Mimi Helman’s ‘Enchanted night’, the last essay, considers the romance of candlelight and the activities which took place during the evening.  Hellman looks at the restrictions that candlelight imposed upon viewing and being viewed.  The gilt on the edge of a table, the delicate lace ruffle on a sleeve or at a throat, the diamonds shining in a brooch, exquisitely engraved silverware; all contributed to the effect of the ‘glint’ which alluded to sumptuousness but also enabled easy navigation in the dark.       

Published to accompany an exhibition of the same title, Paris Life and Luxury in the Eighteenth Century shows how luxury items were used everyday, offering a picture of the lifestyle of the Parisian elite of the period. The editor, Charissa Bremer-David, is  curator of sculpture and decorative arts at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. The book is full of high-quality illustrations which provide a glimpse of details of the objects on display within the exhibition, as well as reproductions of paintings, texts and plans of the era, to enable the reader to place the objects in the context of the period and the activity being discussed.  The contributors are curators and academics, but the approach they take is accessible to any reader within an interest in objets d’art, Paris or life in the 18th century.  What is especially pleasing is the view the authors take – unlike so many other books, this examination of the lifestyle of the Parisian elite is not viewed through the lens of Revolution. As a reviewer, my only complaint is that I was unable to travel to see the exhibition for myself.

Paris, Life and Luxury in the Eighteenth Century edited by Charissa Bremer-David is published byJ. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2011.150 pp., 79 colour & 77 mono illus. ISBN 978-1-60606-052-0