collection of Greek manuscripts. Engraved portraits of
family members were published in Pinacotheca Fuggero-
rum (1592). Decline set in during the later 16th century,
however, when the Hapsburgs demanded increasingly
large and risky loans to finance their wars and the Spanish
bankruptcies of 1557, 1575, and 1607 significantly im-
paired the family’s wealth.
Further reading: Victor von Klarwill (ed.), The Fug-
ger News-Letters: Being a Selection of Unpublished Letters
from the Correspondents of the House of Fugger during the
Years 1568–1605, transl. Pauline de Clary (London: John
Lane The Bodley Head, 1924).
furniture The Gothic tradition in domestic furnishings,
extant throughout Europe before the Renaissance, was
less firmly entrenched in Italy than elsewhere, so that the
changes consequent on the Renaissance were more of a re-
turn to the ancient familiar classicism than the embracing
of a new style.
Increasing sophistication in the style of life in Italy
from the mid-15th century demanded more and better
furniture. Italian Renaissance furniture, principally of wal-
nut, is strongly influenced by classical architecture, and
the function is often subordinated to the form. Much is of
elegant simplicity ornamented with uncomplicated carv-
ing, but other display furniture is more elaborately
shaped, covered in gesso, painted, and gilded. Several new
forms appear, notably CASSONIreplacing Gothic coffers
and chests. A characteristic chair, with an X shape and
folding construction, derives from the Roman curule chair
and is known as a Dante chair. The fashion for tables with
tops of marble inlaid with colored marble or semiprecious
stones probably originated in Milan in the mid-16th cen-
tury and was reinforced by the foundation of the opificio
delle petre dure in Florence in 1599. Monumental side-
boards of classical architectural inspiration also appeared.
Beds became increasingly luxurious, with covers of rich
velvets and gold embroidery, while throughout the inte-
rior fabrics and Turkey carpets were used for sumptuous
effect.
In France Italian styles were first adopted after
Charles VIII’s capture of Naples (1495). Subsequently
Italian craftsmen were employed at Amboise and Fon-
tainebleau; other furniture-making centers were in the Île
de France and Burgundy. Walnut displaced medieval oak
and the refined and delicately carved furniture was often
inlaid with ivory, marble, and marquetry. New forms were
a light and elegant “caquetoire” (gossip) lady’s chair,
fixed-top (as opposed to trestle) tables, and armoires in
two stages, the upper one with several small enclosed
drawers. The exuberance of early Renaissance carving
with its medallions and grotesques was gradually mel-
lowed by more restrained classical features, except in the
Dijon area, where a school of rich regional carving, in-
spired by Hugues Sambin, flourished.
In England the Italian Renaissance style was less read-
ily absorbed and developed into an idiosyncratic formula
in which basically Gothic forms were merely decorated
with Renaissance motifs (see ELIZABETHAN STYLE). Gradu-
ally new construction techniques introduced by continen-
tal craftsmen were adopted and new ideas emerged, such
as the draw-leaf tables (mid-16th century) and farthingale
chairs (c. 1600). Typical Elizabethan features were heavy
bulbous carved sections on legs and bed pillars, with
carved strapwork often incorporating cabochons. Ro-
mayne work (a carved roundel featuring a head in profile)
was especially popular in the first half of the 16th century,
and is found in Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain, as well
as England. In the Iberian peninsula classical motifs were
often incongruously combined with the Moorish (mudé-
jar) style of intricate, abstract, curvilinear decoration. In
Germany some cities, such as Augsburg and Nuremberg,
developed a specialist decorative line in perspective work
using intarsia (mosaics of inlaid wood or ivory).ffuurrnniittuurree 1 19977