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"  Fashions in furniture don&amp;#039;t originate in a vacuum. They&amp;#039;re engendered by contemporary events, by emerging philosophies, and even--as with the neoclassical style known as &amp;quot;Gustavian&amp;quot;--by the d\u00E9cor preferences of monarchs. In 1748, as the Age of Reason was finally winning its rear-guard action against the sentimentality of Romantic thought and rococo style, archaeologists began to uncover the ash-preserved rooms of Pompeii and Herculaneum. And in the refined classical beauty of these Greco-Roman interiors, the new philosophy found a decorative style of its own.  King Louis XV and, later, Louis XVI were particularly enamored of the pared lines and architectural idioms of neoclassical style. And after visits to Italy and the French court, so, too, was Sweden&amp;#039;s King Gustav III (1746\u201392) who introduced to his homeland the look that reigned until 1810 and still honors his name. Cleaner of line and less ornate than the French model, the simpler forms of Gustavian style were more in keeping with Scandinavian tradition that had long included painted furniture crafted from local soft woods.  While Swedish artisans in cities such as Stockholm were carving furniture with neoclassical details, their country counterparts were recreating those same details with paint. As Laurence Fox of Evergreen Antiques explains, &amp;quot;Faux finishes, such as marbling and stenciling, as well as trompe-l&amp;#039;oeil medallions and floral swags, were charming and cheaper to produce. So, Gustavian became accessible to more people.&amp;quot; The new style also appealed to the Swedish passion for light. In this land of long winters, pale upholstery fabrics were like distant echoes of colors in a sunny landscape: the green lichen on rock; the blue shadows on snow; the tender pink of a fading sunset.  At uptown Manhattan&amp;#039;s Evergreen Antiques (source of the examples on these pages), dealers Paul Sigenlaub and Laurence Fox have opted to replace the old, time-damaged fabrics on their Gustavian sofas and chairs with earth-tone linens.  As Fox explains, &amp;quot;One of the reasons today&amp;#039;s buyers are so drawn to these old Swedish pieces is that they are very easy to live with. They work equally well in virtually any design environment, from period to Modern, and we feel that neutral fabrics help demonstrate that versatility for the buyer.&amp;quot;  Judging from buyer response to their collection of Gustavian furniture, its timeless beauty seduces us still.  CURVES The striking and unusual silhouette of the arched and scrolled backrest on a settee distinguishes the clean-lined simplicity of Swedish Gustavian style. This example is late 18th century.  CARVINGS On the worn giltwood frame, an exuberance of carving describes beads, flowers, and woven circles (guilloche). The &amp;quot;dots-in-parentheses&amp;quot; motif was likely an original design by the carver. CONTOURS The graceful restraint of fluted and tapered legs--a trademark of neoclassical style--was a rebuttal to the bulbous elaborations and excesses of the rococo period that preceded it.   Details such as softwood construction and modified carvings often help identify a neoclassical piece as Gustavian. Even if a piece has not been signed, it&amp;#039;s sometimes possible to determine the workshop or maker of a specific piece of furniture (which may also help pinpoint its probable age). Take, for example, the detail of the carving-topped, lattice-backed side chair shown. One of a set of six, it is almost identical to one noted in a period Swedish chair book that attributes it to Stockholm chair maker Johan Melkior Lundberg (1746\u20131812), one of the master practitioners of his day. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.countryliving.com/shopping/antiques/a1/gustavian-furniture-0207/>