Empire and Biedermeier
The emperor's style was heavy, symmetrical and full of victory symbols. The middle-class Biedermeier was its opposite: simple, comfortable furniture in light wood for the family living room.
Empire is Napoleon's style. The architects Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine decorated the emperor's palaces and published their designs as a pattern book. Furniture was block-like and symmetrical, in dark mahogany with gilt-bronze mounts: victory wreaths, swans, lion's paws, bees and the letter N. Egyptian motifs became fashionable after the campaign in Egypt of 1798–1801.
The style spread with Napoleon's wars and his relatives on Europe's thrones. In Sweden it arrived with Karl XIV Johan, the former French marshal Bernadotte, and is therefore called the Karl Johan style. Swedish furniture was often made of native birch or of mahogany, with strong forms and few mounts.
In the German-speaking countries and the Nordic region, the middle classes developed a style of their own after the Napoleonic Wars, later called Biedermeier. The furniture was simple and well made, in light woods such as cherry, pear and birch, with smooth surfaces where the grain itself was the decoration. Here Michael Thonet took his first steps towards bentwood furniture.