Gustavian style – how to recognise it

Gustavian is Swedish Neoclassicism, named after Gustav III, who reigned 1771–1792. The style is recognised by straight, tapering and fluted legs, beading and rosettes, oval or rectangular backs with medallions, and light colours such as grey, white and pale blue. It is usually divided into early Gustavian (c. 1770–1790) and late Gustavian (c. 1790–1810).

Facts

Gustav III and the new taste

Even before Gustav III became king in 1771, the French models had begun to change. In Paris the curving lines of Rococo were giving way to straight forms and classical motifs, the style later named Louis XVI. The architect and designer Jean Eric Rehn introduced the new forms to Sweden, and the king himself drove the change of taste with his love of theatre, France and Italy.

The Gustavian style is thus the Swedish branch of Neoclassicism. Read more about the wider period under Gustavian and about how the style took shape in Sweden under the Gustavian period.

Early Gustavian

In the 1770s and 1780s furniture kept something of Rococo's softness but acquired straight legs. Chairs often have an oval or medallion-shaped back, straight legs that taper downwards and are fluted, and a seat rail decorated with beading: a moulding of small pearls in a row. At the corners between leg and rail there is often a carved rosette in a square.

The cabinet-maker Georg Haupt, who had worked in Paris and London, became court cabinet-maker and made splendid commodes and desks with marquetry in exotic woods. In the palaces furniture was often gilded, while middle-class homes and parsonages had simpler, painted versions.

Late Gustavian

Towards the 1790s forms became more austere and more classical. Backs became rectangular with spindles or lyres, and decoration was taken from Pompeii and ancient vases. Louis Masreliez decorated Gustav III's Pavilion at Haga with wall paintings in the Pompeian style, and the chairmaker Ephraim Ståhl made elegant chairs in Stockholm.

Around 1800 the style began to merge into Empire, which in Sweden is called the Karl Johan style. The transition can be seen in heavier forms, mahogany and brass mounts.

Chandeliers, mirrors and tiled stoves

The style applied to the whole room. The Gustavian chandelier has a frame of gilded brass or iron hung with glass prisms, chains of beads and spires that catch candlelight. Mirrors have straight frames, often gilded and crowned by a bow, an urn or a laurel wreath.

Rooms were heated by tiled stoves from Rörstrand and Marieberg, often in white or with simple blue or green decoration. Walls were painted in light tones or covered with wallpaper, and mantel clocks, gilded table clocks, and candlesticks in silver and brass belonged to the refined interior.

Gustavian today

The Gustavian style has lived on for more than two centuries. Around 1900 artists such as Carl and Karin Larsson drew inspiration from the simple, painted rural versions in their home in Sundborn, and since then Gustavian furniture has been a symbol of Swedish elegance. Many later copies have been made.

An older Gustavian piece often has several layers of paint, hand-made joints and wear where hands have touched. Newly made furniture in the style often has an even, artificially distressed surface. Read more in the guides to furniture styles in chronological order and Rococo, and see more furniture.

How to recognise it

Exercise

Which king gave his name to the Gustavian style?