Drie eetkamerstoelen 1895 - 1935

Léon Laroche made this lithograph titled "Three Dining Room Chairs" sometime in the 19th century. The print showcases a range of chairs in the “Renaissance” style, or rather, in a 19th-century style that looked back to the Renaissance. The image creates meaning through the visual codes of class and taste. These would have been purchased by members of the bourgeoisie wanting to display their wealth and their good taste. France in the 19th century was obsessed with its own past. The country saw a rapid succession of different regimes, each of which tried to legitimize themselves by building an institutional link to some moment in the past. The study of history became a central component of academic life. We see the same concerns repeated here, in this image of dining room chairs. Historians of design use trade publications, auction catalogs, and museum collections to study shifts in taste. In this way, we can understand design as something that is contingent on social and institutional context.