Toronto - If one spent a great deal of time studying furniture design, I don't think Victorian furniture would come off that badly. The problem is that when it is compared to the best of the 18th Century (Sheraton, Chippendale, Hepplewhite, etc.) the standards of which are very high, it does not compare favorably.

Yet, some of the smaller pieces of the Victorian era are not poorly designed or poorly made. Some are light and have a certain grace, and the woods are certainly beautiful. When these features are combined with a price which is very low in comparison with earlier pieces, Victorian furniture has a definite place.

In the Victorian era there was some realization that the furniture was not as artistic as it might be, and serious attempts were made to improve it. By 1850 furniture-making had become just another industry. The makers were no longer artists but industrialists, yet not on a scale of importance as railroad builders or steel-makers.

In fact, the furniture industry was many rungs below many economic enterprises of the middle 19th Century. No longer was it like painting, but rather a fairly low-level machine-shop operation.

William Morris, in partnership with other craftsmen and painters, organized in the middle of the century to try and improve the "bad taste" and lack of culture at the time. He deplored the machine age and what he considered to be its tolerance of a low artistic level.

Morris's company designed furniture which was massive but straightforward, well proportioned, and well constructed. It was also made by hand, and not by machine. The lines were straight and the carving was simple and sharply cut in straight lines.

Charles Eastlake was also greatly influenced by Morris and his group. Eastlake's book, Hints on Household Taste, originally published in 1868. went through many printings. This furniture was based on Morris's designs, but in a simplified version. Eastlake used heavy oak with very simple decorations, and very prominent hinges which gave the pieces a feeling of antiquity.

His simpler pieces are characterized by a feeling of horizontal and vertical straight lines, without curves and ornamentation. The color is almost always dark, employing oak as the wood of choice.

There is now quite a demand for Eastlake and the pieces can still be purchased quite reasonably. The smaller pieces are not massive and can be used in smaller homes.

Another attempt to produce a furniture which would counter the trend to machine-made furniture of low-level design and poor craftsmanship was Japanese Victorian furniture. In some ways, it was comparable to the 18th Century Chinese furniture style of Chippendale, in that it depended on Oriental surface motifs. There was an attempt to use the fine line and asymmetry of Japanese art and architecture.

The furniture enjoyed a brief popularity, particularly in England but is not on today's market in the quantity that some of the other styles are. In summary some of the revival schools of furniture such as Morris and Eastlake, who attempted to improve furniture design and construction, have lasted and are now accepted, and I am sure will enjoy a lasting recognition, along with the mainstream Victorian furniture of quality.

The price history of Victorian furniture is difficult to trace, because the furniture is so varied in quality and design. Not many years ago most Victorian furniture could be bought cheaply, as there was a certain stigma attached to it.

However, that has changed and the very good Victorian pieces now bring high prices. As long as the 18th Century furniture continues to soar to ever increasingly high price levels, the Victorian furniture will probably grow in interest and price, and it would not be surprising to see a real vogue develop for Victorian pieces as we enter the first part of the 21st Century.