Interior Decoration
Posted by Captain Everett on May 07, 1998 at 00:04:43:
In response to Furniture and how we live, written by Beth on May 05, 1998 at 23:10:02
] ] Which got me wondering: How did Regency-era families arrange the furniture in their parlors? [snip]
]
] {snip} Before the Regency period, furniture was arranged around the perimeter of the room (including dining tables), with specific pieces being pulled out as they were required.... rooms became less formal and more relaxed....[snip}
Among the subjects upon which I readily confess to know "nothing," interior decorating, would be near the top. However, I was able to pull from my shelf a real find from a used bookshop, which may help address this question. I decline to comment on the following, leaving it up to the more knowledgeable readers to make of it what they may. The excerpts come from:
John Fowler & John Cornforth, English Decoration in the 18th Century (Second Edition - London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1974) [ISBN 0 214 205525]
In the 18C, in rooms intended for formal use, the centre of the floor was generally kept clear, and may not always have been carpeted. Contrary to the modern view, "Saloons" and "Drawing Rooms" were interchangable names for the same room, even though they were arranged on similiar lines, even into the end of the century. The author also points out that there was a "degree of informality and adaptability about English houses tht may seem rather surprising now, and in the end this trimuphed over the dictates of an architect like Adam." This "particularly English" contribution came gradually, and cannot be attributed to one particular decade (eg 1770's or 1780's). Louis Simond's description of the home he found with the furniture dérange [see Carolyn B's post] indicates that this was a "modern fashion."
The authors point out, however, that French tastes were always more formal than the English. Compare Simond's impression of Osterley with that of an English visitor, Lady Sarah Spencer, only a year earlier."
The drawing-room in which we were received, and in which they always sit, is 10 or 11 feet longer, and I think much broader than the gallery at Althorp. It is 130 feet long, and yet by means of two huge chimney pieces, a profusion of sofas, chairs and tables of all sizes, a billiard table, books, pictures, and a pianoforte, it looks as comfortable and as well-filled as a small room would. All the rest of the house is of a piece with this room - immense, magnificant and very comfortable.
The authors continue, saying that a "fairly crowded room was already quite usual by that date, for when Lady Wharncliffe went to Hornby Castle, Yorkshire, in 1807, it struck her as old fashioned:"
This is a delightful castle-like looking house; very large and would be perfectly comfortable but that there is nothing in it but the old furniture, so that the rooms look bare, and like the drawing room at Ickworth in my poor dear Grandmamma's time.
One can see other changes in progress. One was that of placing a large table in the centre of one of the rooms. The family would sit around the table, which was piled high with books, work, paper, etc. One such discription is given dating from 1785. The authors claim, "Here one finds the spirit, even if not the arrangement, of the living room as it would be recongnized to-day." The term "living-room" was also coming into use. Repton wrote in 1816:
The most recent modern custom is to use the library as the general living-room; and that sor of state room formerly called the best parlour, and of late years the drawing-room, is now generally found a melancholy apartment, when entirely shut up and opened to give visitors a formal cold reception.
There is a watercolour from about 1816 by Elizabeth Shelly, that appears rather Victorian in its atmosphere of "chaos and claustrophobia." A variety of tables and chairs break the room into different areas. There was a trend in this period to formalize the previous informality. This brought a disarrangement that was largely dependant upon the efforts of the servants to restore some degree of order.
It is also pointed out that the dining room was one of the first to show the change from the former practise of pushing the furniture to the outside walls when it was not in use. This worked well with the medium sized, or folding, tables of the earier period. However, by the last quater of the century, large heavy dining tables came into fashion, largely due to the size of the parties which were being entertained. They could not be easily moved, and even then could take up a considerable amount of space. Thus, the tables were left there, and as dinner became more formalized, the dining room became more specialized in purpose.
I trust this is of help, and remain,
Jason E.
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.
