Janoschka magazine_Linked_V2_2017

issue #2 ©
l i n k e d
5
In 1803, King Ludwig I. of Bavaria did not exactly
move into student digs, in the everyday sense
of the word. At that time, he was still the crown
prince and had gone to study in Landshut. His
accommodation was the previously modernised,
so-called “Birkenfeld Rooms” of the Wittelsbach
family’s town residence, which was a
Renaissance palace. Empire furniture and, above
all, classical French wallpapers made the suite of
rooms the “dernier cri”.
Some of the wallpapers came from the renowned
wallpaper manufacturer, Jean Baptiste Révellion
in Saint-Antoine, near Paris. Révellion was one
of the first craftsmen to be celebrated as an artist.
He took his inspiration from the grotesque
motifs in Raphael’s studios, from frescoed ceilings
and ancient paintings. Exuberant flowers in
streamlined vases adorned his designs, graceful
swans and birds seemed to fly out of a central
medallion motif and swoop up to the ceiling.
He introduced vibrant colours – deep shades of
red, ochre, azure blue and strong green tones.
His workshop developed and produced the most
elegant and beautiful “paper tapestries” for
the French aristocracy and received the title of
“Manufacture Royale” in 1783.
The French wallpapers of this time were, despite
machine production and printing, lucrative
luxury articles. Their manufacture required a high
level of craftsmanship and skill. Their design attained
unimagined artistry. Perfected techniques
afforded a stylistic idiom with many variations.
It stretched from mythological tales, through
hunt settings and on to deceptively realistic reproductions
of architectural elements, such as
columns and capitals, or illusionary, iridescent
silk draperies gathered with golden braids. Finely
elaborated “paysages” opened up the salons
onto seemingly Arcadian vistas, while a crowded
collection of blue chinoiserie appeared between
tendrils that crept from floor to ceiling – and still,
it was all just paper.
The supremacy of France in the design and production
of wallpapers reached its zenith in the
19th century. Over 140 manufacturers employed
around 33,000 workers. Christophe-Philippe
Oberkampf developed the first printing machine
for repeating segments of pattern (rapport) for
his calico fabric. Almost at the same time, in
1799 in fact, his fellow countryman, Nicolas-
Louis Robert, obtained a patent for a method
to manufacture continuous rolls of paper on a
Fourdrinier machine. The way was paved for the
industrial production of printed wall paper rolls
and Révellion understood how to tread this path
with all his skill.
Inspiration for the reception room of the “Birkenfeld Apartments” were draped
wall coverings in sumptuous silk fabrics of intense, vivid colour: these wallpapers
were the result of block printing in seven colours on a blue background.
The sheets of paper would then be pasted together into lengths.