The History of 18th Century Decoupage

Decoupage is a creative, decorative and timeless art form with its roots in Venice of 300 years ago. 18th Century Decoupage is the most elegant and beautiful of all forms of decoupage and laid paper crafts. It is absolutely timeless and pieces will still be around for hundreds of years to come. The stylish appearance of decoupage is mellow and usually antique in character.

The word decoupage comes from the French decouper meaning to cut. Decoupage is the art of adorning surfaces with paper cutouts to form a complete design or tell a story. The techniques in achieving this are limitless.

In the past decoupage has been known by many names. The Italians referred to it as arte povero, poor man's art. The French called it lacque pauvre, poor man's lacquer. In England it was known as japanning because it emulated the work which came to Europe from Japan and China in the 18th Century.

The origin of decoupage as we know it today dates back to Italy of the 1700s when cabinetmakers were keen to copy this Far Eastern lacquer work because of its popularity. At that time the artists of the day simply could not keep up with the demand for lacquered work.

Decoupage works (mostly furniture) were painted a uniform colour and then decorated with cut-out prints produced for the purpose. The prints were painted or gilded and the whole surface was covered with a coat of varnish. Furniture decorated in this manner looks from a distance like lacquerer but can be seen to be decoupage on close inspection. Most of the surviving examples of decoupage of this period are chests of drawers or secretaries.

Several firms of printers produced sheets of engravings specially for the poor man's art decoration. These were coloured, cut, designed and pasted onto prepared surfaces, then varnished many times to resemble the high gloss of lacquer decoration on items such as desks, chairs, table, cabinets, and screens. Each of these stages in the process was allocated to a level of craftsman in the Guild system (similar to apprenticeships of today).

Social Origins

A journey in the 18th Century was a lengthy affair so visitors tended to stay several weeks or months. During this time the hostess needed ways to amuse the visitors. Decoupage became a hobby for visitors and their hostess to indulge in to while away the time. Every lady's work table included a pair of fine scissors so cutting pictures for a scrapbook was a natural progression from sewing and needlework. It was very popular throughout England and Europe.

In Italy, most of the work done in cutout ornament was on desks or secretaries. This art of decoupage furniture was born in or near Venice. There was a strong influence on Venetian decoupage artists by the treasures of the orient. The delicate gold line work, lattice design and fine tracery were adapted to this Venetian-made furniture.

At the height of its popularity decoupage spread to France where it is said Marie Antoinette and the ladies of the Court became so enthusiastic that they cut up everything in sight in pursuit of art. It is said that original works of Boucher and Watteau were not safe from these ladies' scissors.

French decoupage was very lacy and intricate. It reflected the fanciful and ornate character of 18th century French furniture. Subjects used were flowers, butterflies, birds, cherubs, musical instruments, and garlands.

In England about the same time lived a Mary Delany who, at the age of 73, began to cut exquisite flowers from coloured papers that she had specially made. The pictures that she made were accurate and exact in every detail. Without doubt, her cutting remains unsurpassed.

Later on, Queen Victoria became not only a decoupeur but also a collector of decoupage. During Victorian times, fashionable young ladies often executed a screen as part of their trousseau.

The vogue for decoupage faded in England around the time of the outbreak of the World War I. In France it died out during the French Revolution, while in Venice, the very heart of its beginning no decoupage of any note has been produced since Napoleon marched into the city.

18th Century USA

By 1730, japanning was popular in the American Colonies. Prints were pasted onto furniture, painted and lacquered. Despite its popularity in Boston and New York, no known pieces have survived.

German Decoupage

German and Austrian decoupage was a little heavier following the character of Biedermeier furniture. The Germans used embossed scrapbook pictures of children, cherubs, ribbons and so on. These embossed printed and precut motifs were invented by the Germans and their quality has never been surpassed.

Scandinavian Decoupage

Swedish decoupage features earthy monotones. Black and white engravings are coloured with burnt apricot, forest green, dark salmon and peach umber. These coloured prints are used on dark painted backgrounds to natural deep wood tones.

Norwegian decoupage is almost entirely devoted to mythological subjects.

Other Countries

Polish decoupage is brilliant and dazzling in effect. Traditional designs are executed in brightly coloured paper and tinsel paper.

Mexican decoupage is bright and colourful and is used as decoration for holiday festive articles.

Belgian decoupage is usually done with a scalpel in the manner of silhouette cutting except for pierced work and reverse cutting.

Australian Beginnings

Here in Australia, approximately 25 years ago, Val Lade, a Melbourne artist, discovered decoupage and began to research this interesting art form.

The 18th Century Decoupage we do here refers to the technique not the period from which you choose images. The technique is the one the Venetians used in the 1700s. They used black and white prints, hand colouring them. Later coloured works became available, many being beautiful works by young and developing artists. For varnish they used shellac, whereas we use polyurethane varnish. For sanding material, they used varying grades of pumice, whereas we use varying grades of sandpaper.

The Process

What type of surface

Any surface that is rigid can be decoupaged. I work on wood - old and new, craftwood, ceramics, eggshell, glass etc.

Design concept

The beginning of a piece starts with a concept or, at the very least, an idea of what you are trying to achieve. I either find an image I really like and the concept develops from there. Or, I discover a shape, a piece whether it be an egg, box or ceramic and them look for an image around which to develop the concept.

Cutting

Fine cutting is also a feature. We use very fine curved, sharp scissors. Most students begin with a good pair of nail scissors. The best scissors are surgical scissors. I use iris cutting scissors. Cutting is the essence of your work and the heart of decoupage. Therefore, it is important to have a good quality pair of scissors.

Painting

Painting is another important part of the process. To me background colour is everything. You need to consider what it is you want to achieve with the paint in relation to the cutout. Do you want the cutout to become part of the background? Do you want a contrast? Do you want to create harmony? Do you want to give the feel of movement, texture? Do you want to give the impression of moonlight, daylight, richness, depth, strength etc?

Brushes and sponges are the most common items used to apply the paint.

Design Integrity

Particular care should be paid to harmonising the images with the shape of the piece. It is also important that images come from a similar period and the integrity of colour is maintained for the period. For example, you ma choose a renaissance image. There fore, you must make sure that the other images of the design, background colour and trim are from that period. You may decide on an Asian piece. Components of the design must have integrity.

Varnishing and Sanding

Varnishing and sanding are just as important as painting and design. The objective is to produce a very even, smooth surface so that you cannot tell whether the image has been painted or glued.

Finishing

The finishing technique we use is very different and once the method has been accomplished very few use other techniques. The technique is called micromeshing. Micromeshing gives the piece a beautiful glow, rather than a shine, and the surface becomes very tactile.

Styles

18th Century decoupage is classic in feeling, is made from originals or reproductions of 18th century prints, whether hand-coloured or reproductions of paintings.

Victorian decoupage is done with pre-coloured to cutout embossed scrapbook pictures and gold paper braid.

Contemporary decoupage makes use of calendars, gift cards, magazines, wrapping papers and photocopies of paintings.

A Unique Decoupeur

About 160 years ago, an invalid called Amedia Blackburn, created garlands of fglowers and birds so unique that the paper currings were called "Amelias". Her cutting was extraordinarily fine. She cut out pieces of white paper and coloured them and assembled the pieces to make pictures. There are a few examples of "Amelias" in the British Museum.

Paper Mosaics

Mrs Delany lived in Dublin in the 1700s. She created paper mosaics resembling flowers and other plants. Mrs Delany cut out different coloured paper pieces and glued them together to create her images of nature. Some examples of her work still exist in the British Museum.