Wrought Iron: Choosing the Right Style

When planning the decoration of their country house, our clients often ask for advice on how to handle wrought iron details. With forged work there are practically no stylistic barriers: the choice of pattern for a grille or fence is governed only by what is practical and by the owner's taste. The style depends on the overall concept of the country residence, so it is very helpful to have a sense of the characteristics of the various artistic styles.

Romanesque style

The Romanesque style (from the Latin romanus, "Roman"), deeply medieval in nature, is marked by solidity and mass. "My home is my castle" — that is what Romanesque buildings are all about. Wrought iron likewise bore the stamp of a "defensive" mission: gates and grilles were massive, made of square bars set at an angle or vertically. The gaps between the bars were filled with symmetrical spirals, and these ornaments neatly covered the entire surface of the grille.

The characteristic pattern consists of scrolls: they grow from a single thick root gripped by a clamp; the development and connection of the scrolls is strictly symmetrical and regular; and the large scrolls are either densely arranged or have at their center a flower made of small scrolls.

Typical features

• monumentality
• semicircular arches
• the volute as a signature element
• a dense, symmetrical, repeating pattern

Gothic style

The Gothic style that followed was a fundamentally new phenomenon in culture. It gave rise to sharp spikes and finials and to cleavings (the joining of two bars, where one passes through the other) and narrow gaps between the bars, while the scroll (volute), being out of keeping with the new aesthetic, almost disappeared. The bars of fences usually end in arrows.

Gothic forged work is based on segments of a circle, and the forms themselves are highly geometric. Interior grilles, however, are often decorated with delicate gilded plant ornament. Among the favorite motifs are carved trefoils, lilies and rosettes, stylized acanthus leaves, and quatrefoils (four-leaf clovers) woven into openwork geometric ornament.

Forging now comes to rely on bars with complex profiles. Individual bars are joined either by punching or by cold riveting (in the case of flat bars). For decoration, a sheet blank is used, from which scrolls, leaves, or the characteristic trefoils can be made.

The characteristic features are

• a general upward thrust: narrow openings, pointed tops, and finials
• pointed arches
• the use of bars with complex profiles
• a strictly geometric order
• signature elements — spikes, arrows, trefoils, crosses, and rosettes.

Renaissance

The Renaissance breathed new energy and ideas into the art, and the arrival of the round bar literally freed the hands of blacksmiths. From it they formed magnificent spirals and branches ending in leaves and flowers, all produced by hot forging without rivets. Where the bending bars crossed, a slot (a piercing) was made through which the bars were threaded — and so the characteristic "figure eight" was born. The result was a grille that was strong yet light.

Ordinary four-sided bars, along with round and thin flat bars and iron strips, served as the starting material for grilles. The volute, the spiral, braiding, and saber-shaped leaves became their favorite decorations. The decor of grilles grew more elaborate: they were now supplemented with stamped or cast busts, figures, and flowers.

Characteristic features

• harmonious clarity of composition
• proportionality of the parts
• a revival of Greek motifs
• signature elements — the "figure eight," spirals, volutes, and braids
• the use of the round bar
• the inclusion of cast elements — cartouches, figures, busts, and monograms.

Baroque

The most recognizable offshoot of the Renaissance style came to be called the Baroque (Italian for "ornate, strange"). Its main distinction is its disregard for the rules of Renaissance harmony: emotional impact on the viewer seems to matter far more to the artist. The Baroque abounds in decorative leaves and rosettes and is marked by complex shapes and intricate patterns. The decorations are the same spirals, volutes, braids, and saber-shaped leaves, but turned into lush, tangled thickets. Naturalistic flowers, acanthus shoots and leaves, cartouches, palmettes twisted into festive garlands, opulent scrolls, vases, masks, and dragons become recognizable hallmarks of the style. The dominant element is once again the scroll, and with it the spiral curling into a C-shape. The fame of the Baroque was built on the St. Petersburg grilles and fences designed by F. Rastrelli.

Characteristic features

• pomp and ornamentation
• a restless rhythm of curved lines
• elegance and openwork detailing
• heightened dynamism of forms
• an abundance of detail
• signature elements — scrolls, acanthus leaves, spirals, and intricate patterns.

Rococo

The Rococo style is a frivolous heir to the Baroque that prized decorativeness above all. Strict lines are broken up, grilles are lightened, and thin bars and leaves are used in the forging, lending an elegant playfulness to the forms. The ornamental patterns become asymmetrical and fragmented, with randomly placed S- and C-shaped scrolls, bouquets, festoons, and garlands filling every free space. Rocaille ornament is marked by filigree execution, and the ceaseless movement of shoots and lush garlands of leaves and flowers gives volume to the surface.

Characteristic features

• decorativeness
• lightness and playfulness of forms
• elegant openwork patterns
• asymmetry and fragmentation of the ornament
• a breaking up of the flatness of grilles.

Classical Style

The Classical style (from the Latin classicus, "exemplary") replaced the Baroque in the mid-18th century, and although by inertia it still preserved some of the decorativeness and plasticity typical of the Baroque, its spirit was entirely different. It borrowed the austerity and restraint of its means of expression from antique sources, and from then on the rhythm of clear sections prevailed in wrought iron grilles. Spear-shaped bar tops, the graphic quality of the contour line, and their harmonious integration with the architecture returned to the decor (recall the fence of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg). Recognizable elements of the style are meanders (ornament with a pattern of lines broken at right angles), rectangles, and circles with ornamental rosettes inscribed within them. Forged pieces are often gracefully complemented by cast elements.

Characteristic features

• simplicity and restraint
• a balanced composition
• repeated symmetrical patterns
• typical patterns — meanders, vines, flowers of various kinds, smoothly curving leaves, spears, wreaths, reliefs, and rosettes
• an emphasis on sculptural forms
• as a rule, a strictly vertical structure for fences and grilles.

Empire

Empire-style wrought ironwork is distinguished above all by the use of straight, smooth bars and the predominance of geometric elements in the ornamentation. The favorite motifs of Empire ironwork are smooth straight lines, circles, and the meander, combined with the classical acanthus leaf and floral ornament. Volutes (scrolls) take on an elliptical, elongated shape; one often sees paired volutes that run parallel to each other and are welded and twisted at the ends into a simple spiral. At the center of the volute there may be a floral festoon of acanthus calyxes. The same motifs are repeated along each band of the piece, and the alternation of plant elements with meanders or other geometric patterns is especially characteristic of the Empire style.

Characteristic features

• austerity and simplicity of form combined with refinement
• signature elements: spear-shaped finials, allegorical images and Roman ornament, wreaths of glory, and mascarons
• a typical combination of meanders and plant motifs
• the elongated shape of the volutes

Art Nouveau, Secession, Jugendstil

In the early twentieth century, the clarity and restraint of forged (and other) work gave way to forms that grew ever more fanciful and elaborate. So Art Nouveau was born. It is marked by supple outlines free of angles, with a pronounced tendency toward asymmetry. Its designs are dominated by natural plant motifs, with exotic flowers — irises and orchids — especially favored. The "calling card" of the Art Nouveau style in Europe was the line known as the "whiplash" — the loop-shaped curving stem of a cyclamen.

In wrought iron pieces, lines and scrolls flow freely into one another; the ornament, full of curves and intersections (often with a change of cross-section profile), hardly repeats along the length of the piece and leaves an impression of bewitching ease.

Characteristic features

• organic shapes
• expressive silhouettes and intricately curving outlines
• the concept of "flowing" space
• a strong decorative effect
• plasticity of form and the absence of straight lines
• oriental motifs combined with whimsical plant ornament

Art Deco

Art Deco is the "geometric" variant of Art Nouveau, set against its "floral" direction. Rounded corners, strict vertical lines, and linear geometric decor of zigzags, circles, triangles, and sunbursts are characteristic of Art Deco. One often finds a combination of motifs from the ancient East and Egypt and the Greek classics, and of floral and animal forms with abstract figures, layered over the expressiveness of broken lines. The feminine and rounded is sacrificed to the masculine and graphic. The style became very popular — especially in America — as a symbol of the new luxury, and it is still considered the style of the stars.

Characteristic features

• futuristic and eclectic
• simplicity and geometric shapes
• signature elements — expressive lines and decorations of zigzags, circles, and triangles
• an aesthetic of practicality and strict, utilitarian forms
• a combination of different metalworking technologies and different materials