Winter and summer in homes of the 19th century French bourgeoisie usually called for different textiles to be used in the decor - pale in the summer with darker and heavier weight fabrics used in the winter.
This piece, from the Napoleon III era, has a very dark greeny-black background with red and rose flowers as the foreground motif.
This piece, from the Napoleon III era, has a very dark greeny-black background with red and rose flowers as the foreground motif.
In this 19th century heavy-weight cotton, the background is again very dark, but this time a dark, dark olive green. The foreground motif of roses climbing a trellis is done in an olive-khaki shade. The roses are rendered in a cherry red.
This Art Nouveau piece looks more like a spring fabric with the pale clematis and lilies of the valley. The dark forest green background provides a contrast to the pale floral foreground. This design would have been a fabric that could have easily been used year round, which became the more popular way to decorate a French home by the dawn of the 20th century.
