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The Empire style ( ) is an early–19th-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 during the French Consulate and the First French Empire periods, although its life span lasted until the late-1820s. From France it spread into much of Europe and the United States.
The Empire style originated in and takes its name from the rule of the Emperor Napoleon I in the First French Empire, when it was intended to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state. The previous fashionable style in France had been the Directoire style, a more austere and minimalist form of Neoclassicism that replaced the Louis XVI style, and the new Empire style brought a full return to ostentatious richness. The style corresponds somewhat to the Biedermeier in the German-speaking lands, Federal style in the United States, and the Regency style in Britain.
The stoicism virtues of Republican Rome were upheld as standards not merely for the arts but also for political behaviour and private morality. Conventionels saw themselves as antique heroes. Children were named after Brutus, Solon and Lycurgus. The festivals of the Revolution were staged by David as antique rituals. Even the chairs in which the committee of Salut Publique sat were made on antique models devised by David. ...In fact Neo-classicism became fashionable.
Before the development of the Empire style there was a brief transitional Consulate style that formed under the French Consulate. This style introduced many of the motifs of Empire style, taking inspiration from military campaigns, including the French campaign in Egypt and Syria, and was more formal and rectangular.
The Empire style "turned to the florid opulence of Roman Empire. The abstemious severity of Doric order was replaced by Corinthian order richness and splendour".
Two French architects, Percier and Fontaine, were together the creators of the French Empire style. The two had studied in Rome and in the 1790s became leading furniture designers in Paris, where they received many commissions from Napoleon and other statesmen.
Architecture of the Empire style was based on elements of the Roman Empire and its many archaeological treasures, which had been rediscovered starting in the eighteenth century. The preceding Louis XVI and employed straighter, simpler designs compared to the Rococo style of the eighteenth century. Empire designs strongly influenced the contemporary American Federal style (such as design of the United States Capitol building), and both were forms of propaganda through architecture. It was a style of the people, not ostentatious but sober and evenly balanced. The style was considered to have "liberated" and "enlightened" architecture just as the propaganda that Napoleon had "liberated" the peoples of Europe with his Napoleonic Code.
The Empire period was popularized by the inventive designs of Percier and Fontaine, Napoleon's architects for Malmaison. The designs drew for inspiration on symbols and ornaments borrowed from the glorious ancient Greek and Roman empires. Buildings typically had simple timber frames and box-like constructions, wood veneer in expensive mahogany imported from the colonies. Biedermeier furniture also used ebony details, originally due to financial constraints. Ormolu details (gilded bronze furniture mounts and embellishments) displayed a high level of craftsmanship.
General Bernadotte, later to become King Karl Johan of Sweden and Norway, introduced the Napoleonic style to Sweden, where it became known under his own name. The Karl Johan style remained popular in Scandinavia even as the Empire style disappeared from other parts of Europe. France paid some of its debts to Sweden in ormolu bronzes instead of money, leading to a vogue for crystal chandeliers with bronze from France and crystal from Sweden.
After Napoleon lost power, the Empire style continued to be in favour for many decades, with minor adaptations. There was a revival of the style in the last half of the nineteenth century in France, again at the beginning of the twentieth century, and again in the 1980s.
The style survived in Italy longer than in most of Europe, partly because of its Imperial Roman associations, partly because it was revived as a national style of architecture following the unification of Italy in 1870. Mario Praz wrote about this style as the Italian Empire. In the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States, the Empire style was adapted to local conditions and gradually acquired further expression as the Egyptian Revival, Greek Revival, Biedermeier style, Regency style, and late-Federal style.
Washstand (athénienne or lavabo) MET DP106597.jpg|A pair of with an amphora between them, surrounded by and palmettes, on a washstand (athénienne or lavabo)
Coin cabinet MET DP111801.jpg|The top of an Egyptian Revival pylon-shaped coin cabinet, with a cornice and a winged sun
Strassburg chair 5914.jpg|A chair decorated with various kinds of palmettes
Table Empire.jpg|A table with three and a small long frieze with palmettes
Interiors have spacious rooms, richly decorated with symmetrically arranged motifs. The walls are decorated with Corinthian order and vertical panels, having at the top a decorative frieze. The panels are covered with monumental paintings, , or with embroidered silks. The ceilings have light colours and fine ornaments.
Historic sites which present an homogeneous ensemble, examples of the decoration of interiors of the early 19th century are:
Château de Malmaison, France (48029730202).jpg|Empress Joséphine's Bedroom in Château de Malmaison (Rueil-Malmaison, France), 1800–1802, by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine
Paris - Jardin des Tuileries - Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel - PA00085992 - 003.jpg|Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (Paris), 1806–1808, by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine
Palais Bourbon, Paris 7e, NW View 140402 1.jpg|Portico of the Palais Bourbon (Paris), 1806–1808, by Bernard Poyet
File:P1040409 Paris Ier colonne Vendôme rwk.JPG|Vendôme Column (Place Vendôme, Paris), 1806–1810, by Jacques Gondouin and Jean-Baptiste Lepère
Madeleine Paris.jpg|La Madeleine (Paris), 1807–1842, by File:SP KazanskyCathedral 2370.jpg|Kazan Cathedral (Saint Petersburg, Russia), 1811, by Andrey Voronikhin
Secretary, France, 1804-1814, amboyna wood veneered on pine, gilt-bronze mounts, 23.147.1 - Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York City - DSC07689 (cropped and fixed angles).jpg|Secretary; 1804-1809; amboyna wood veneered on pine, with gilt-bronze mounts; 173.4 x 87.6 x 37.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Le Trône de Napoléon Ier aux Tuileries - Musée du Louvre Objets d'art GMTC 2.jpg|Throne of Napoleon I; by Georges Jacob and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; 1804; embroidered velvet, gilt wood and ivory; height: 1.2 m; Louvre
Commode with Two Door Panels - OA 9968 - Louvre (01).jpg|Commode with two door panels; before 1805; mahogany with bronze mounts; 1.165 x 1.794 x 0.83 m; Louvre
Trône de Napoléon 1er en provenance du Corps législatif - Exposition Versailles.jpg|Throne; by Bernard Poyet and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; 1805; carved and gilded wood, covered in red velvet with silver embroidery; 160 x 110 x 82 cm; Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris)
File:Desk chair (fauteuil de bureau) MET DP278961.jpg|Desk chair; 1805–1808; mahogany, gilt bronze and satin-velvet upholstery; 87.6 × 59.7 × 64.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Serre-bijoux de l'Impératrice dit Grand écrin (Louvre, OA 10246).jpg|Jewelry holder of the Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais; by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; 1809; mahogany, amaranth, ebony, taxus, mother-of-pearl, and gilt bronze mounts; 2.76 x 2 x 0.6 m; Louvre
Coin cabinet MET DP103176.jpg|Egyptian Revival coin cabinet; by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; 1809–1819; mahogany (probably Swietenia mahagoni), with applied and inlaid silver; 90.2 x 50.2 x 37.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Empire chair Louvre OA11934.jpg|Chair; before 1810; white trimmed wood with gilt carved decoration, modern trim, red and white silk; 90 x 50.5 x 44 cm; Louvre
Austria-03324 - Cradle of Napoleon's Son (32936041295).jpg|King of Rome's Cradle (Empire); by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, , Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot and Pierre-Philippe Thomire; 1811; wood, silver gilt, mother-of-pearl, sheets of copper covered with velvet, silk and tulle, decorated with silver and gold thread; height: 216 cm; Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria)
France, late 18th-early 19th century - Candelabrums - 1989.170 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|Candelabrum; circa 1800; gilt and patinated metal; overall: 49.9 x 25.7 x 12.3 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, US)
Vase égyptien (Louvre, LP 3275).jpg|Egyptian Revival vase with pedestal; 1804–1806; varnished sheet and ormolu; height: 1.80 m, depth: 0.95 m; Louvre
Minerve, candélabre.jpg|Minerva candelabra; 1804–1814; gilded and patinated bronze; height: 101 cm, width of the plinth: 25 cm, depth of the plinth: 19 cm; Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris
Clock (France), 1807–10 (CH 18406837).jpg|Clock; 1807–1810; fire-gilt bronze, blackened bronze, enameled metal (dial), blued steel (hands); glass; 56 x 49.7 x 18.5 cm; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (New York City)
Clock Thomire Louvre OA9511.jpg|Clock with Mars and Venus; by Pierre-Philippe Thomire; circa 1810; gilded bronze and patina; height: 90 cm; Louvre
Pierre-philippe thomire, centrotavola, parigi 1810 ca., con due candelabri.jpg|Centerpiece between two candelabra; by Pierre-Philippe Thomire; circa 1810; probably gilded bronze; Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon, Portugal)
Pair of candelabra with Winged Victories MET DP-315-001.jpg|Pair of candelabra with Winged Victories; 1810–1815; gilt bronze; height (each): 127.6 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
Mantel clock called The Reader, by Jean-Andre Reiche, active in Paris, 1752-1817, gilt bronze, chased and patinated, marble, enamel - Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Montreal, Canada - DSC08693.jpg|Mantel clock called The Reader; by Jean-Andre Reiche; circa 1810; matte and polished gilt bronze and "Vert de Mer" marble; 31 x 15 x 26 cm; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, Canada)
Saucer, part of Breakfast Service (déjeuner) MET LC-56 29 7.jpg|Saucer, part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain; height: 3.2 cm; diameter: 16.2 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sugar bowl with cover, part of Breakfast Service (déjeuner) MET LC-56 29 3ab-001.jpg|Sugar bowl with cover, part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain; height: 21 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Milk jug (pot à lait Étrusque), part of Breakfast Service (déjeuner) MET LC-56 29 4-004.jpg|Milk jug (pot à lait Étrusque), part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain; height (with handle): 21.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tray (plateau), part of Breakfast Service (déjeuner) MET DT5174.jpg|Tray (plateau), part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain; 2.5 x 37.5 x 33.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cup (tasse Jasmin), part of Breakfast Service (déjeuner) MET LC-56 29 5-002.jpg|Cup (tasse Jasmin), part of a breakfast service (déjeuner); 1813; hard-paste porcelain and silver gilt; height: 11.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Madame Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord (1761–1835) MET DT1994.jpg|Portrait of Madame Catherine Grand, from circa 1804
Costume Parisien No.945 1809.jpg|1809 illustration which shows how male Empire fashion looks like, from Journal des dames et des modes
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord (1754–1838), Prince de Talleyrand MET DP148275.jpg|Portrait of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, from 1817
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