Chapter IX: Part 9

The _salon_, or drawing-room, contained five tables: one stood in each corner and one in the centre. There were six square arm-chairs, four chairs, and a settee of green and white damask, and the one _tabouret_ was covered with tapestry. The walls were hung with watered silk, and the curtains were green taffeta. The dressing-room contained four arm-chairs, and four chairs covered in blue and white damask; and the window-curtains were of blue taffeta. The arm-chair used at the toilette was upholstered in leather. The chimney-piece was “_à la Prussienne_,” and the hearth furniture was gilt _or moulu_. The bedroom was lighted by two windows, which were hung with curtains of green taffeta. The _lit en niche_ and the alcove draperies were of Indian dimity. The four arm-chairs and four chairs were covered with _toile de Jouy_. (See page 264.) The fireplace furnishings were gilt _or moulu_. In the writing-room, the two curtains were of green taffeta; and the desk arm-chair was covered with green velvet. Two china corner-cupboards stood in the _garde-robe_.

The _Cabinet des Modes_ from 1786 to 1790 gives many examples of furniture and interior decorations that are excellent records of the taste of the last years of the Louis XVI. style. The volume for 1786 gives designs for a clock and candelabra; bed in the form of a pulpit, front and side view, _lit de repos_, or _causeuse_, arm-chairs “in the latest fashion,” _bergères_, _chaise à chapeau_ and _chaise à resaut_, “temple _flambeaux_ and _cassolettes_ for the decoration of a mantel-piece,” bed “_à la Turque_,” and decoration for a boudoir.

A _lit à la Polonaise_, a decoration for a bedroom with alcove with columns, cabinet clock, sofa with three backs, or “_sofa pommier_,” large arm-chair for a drawing-room, two _voyeuses_ for a card room, and a chair appear in the second volumes. The third contains mantel-pieces, girandoles, clocks, a cylinder desk, a console, and the decoration for a _salon_. Another decoration for a _salon_ appears in the volume for 1789, also a clock, girandoles, a Chinese lantern, _pots pourris_, or perfume-burners, a sofa of three divisions, a _fauteuil à chapeau et à colonnes_, a hearth and a settee. The volume for 1790 leads directly into the Directoire style, as the plates for the “_lit à la fédération_,” “new arm-chairs of antique form,” “antique arm-chair,” “Etruscan chair,” candelabra, and “_salon nouveau_” plainly show. Most of these designs are by Charpentier.

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Footnote 19:

Copy of the Little Trianon built by Gustavus III., of Sweden, in his
park at Haga near Stockholm.

Footnote 20:

A kind of dimity.

THE ADAM PERIOD

THE ADAM PERIOD

Reaction from the rococo style doubtless marched with the same gradual and certain steps in England as in France. The Louis XVI. style crossed the channel and brought with it all its bitter contempt for “rock and shell,” its passion for the straight line, and its love for mortuary urns and arabesque ornamentation. In English decorative art, this style is known as “Adam.”

Although Robert and James Adam had great influence in creating and strengthening the “taste for the antique,” they were not the only ones who made war upon the rococo, Gothic and Chinese. One of these was George Richardson, who, like Adam, travelled in Italy. He published _A Book of Ceilings composed in the style of the Antique Grotesque_, in 1776; _A New Collection of Chimney-Pieces in the style of the Etruscan, Greek and Roman Architecture_, in 1781; and _A Series of Original Designs for Country Seats or Villas, containing Plans, Elevations, Sections of Principal Apartments, Ceilings, Chimney Pieces, Capitals of Columns, Ornaments for Friezes, and Other Interior Decorations in the Antique Style_, in 1795.

Placido Columbani published _A New Book of Ornaments_, in 1775; and _A Variety of Capitals, Friezes, Cornices and Chimney-pieces_, in 1776. These are designs for the interior decoration of rooms, chiefly of panels to be made in wood, or stucco, or painting.

John Crunden was another. He issued _Designs for Ceilings_, in 1765; _Convenient and Ornamental Architecture_, in 1768; _The Joiner and Cabinet-Maker’s Darling_, in 1770; and, with Thomas Milton and Placido Columbani, _The Chimney-Piece Maker’s Daily Assistant_, or a _Treasury of New Designs for Chimney-Pieces_.

N. Wallis published, in 1771, _A Book of Ornaments in the Palmyrene Taste_, which was followed by _The Carpenter’s Treasure_ and _The Complete Modern Joiner_, which contain designs for ceilings, panels, pateras, mouldings, chimney-pieces, door-cases, friezes, tablets for the centre ornaments, chimney-pieces, and door-cases and ornaments for pilasters, bases and sub-bases. The greater number were of allegorical subjects. Wallis was fond of the “Raffle” leaf (indented foliage, such as the acanthus). J. Carter was another designer in the Adam taste. His ceilings greatly resembled Richardson’s. The latter describes one of his own chimney-pieces as follows: “The plain ground round the pilasters and architrave may be of jasper, or antique green; and the ornaments of the frieze and pilasters might be done of _scagliola_,[21] and should be executed in wood; the ornaments will produce a fine effect if painted in the Etruscan manner—in various colours.” A _Triumph of Venus_ is a tablet of another chimney-piece, “suitable for an elegant gallery or Drawing-room. She is sitting in a shell drawn by Dolphins guided by Cupid, in the air and accompanied by a Triton blowing his shell trumpet, and holding Neptune’s trident. The plain ground round the pilasters with termes may be of variegated colours, but all the rest should be of plain white marble.” Of the ceiling for a dressing-room he says: “The oval picture represents Diana bathing attended by her Nymphs. The small circles contain figures representing hunting-pieces and sacrifices, which may be painted in _chiaro-oscuro_, or executed in stucco in the manner of antique bas-reliefs.” A chimney-piece, suitable for a Parlour or Dining-room, is thus described: “The ornaments of the frieze may be of white marble, laid on dark grounds. If the cornice, with the frieze and back pilasters, be carved in wood, the moldings of the architraves in marble, might be quite plain.”

It will therefore be seen that the “Adam style” was a fashion. Taste was running its natural course and the reaction to the antique, from the curve in favour of the straight line, had set in.

The social position of the Adam brothers helped them greatly in towering above the other English designers and decorative artists of the day. Their father, William Adam, was an architect of reputation in Scotland; and sent his second son, Robert, to the University of Edinburgh, where he formed important friendships. In 1754, he went to Italy with a French architect and made a careful study of the ruins of the Emperor Diocletian’s palace at Spalatro in Dalmatia. He was made F.R.S. and F.S.A. while abroad; and, on his return to England, in 1762, become royal architect. His brother James was closely identified with him in all his work. The nobility and gentry not only patronized them, but received them socially; and when Robert died in 1792, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the state of his funeral and the high rank of the persons who attended and officiated, prove the regard in which he was held. Adam, therefore, is of a very different class from Chippendale, Heppelwhite and Sheraton; and, although he designed much furniture to accord with the rooms that he altered and decorated, he never made any. The Adam brothers were purely designers: they employed special artists to work for them. These were Angelica Kauffman, and her husband, Antonio Zucchi, and Cipriani; also Pergolesi, whom they brought from Italy, and who Mr. Heaton says “beyond doubt was the unacknowledged author of most of the beautiful details of Adam’s book.”

Among their most important works that include interior decoration were: Sion House, the Duke of Northumberland’s seat in Middlesex; Kenwood, Lord Mansfield’s house near Hampstead; Osterley House, near Brentford; Shelburne (now Lansdowne) House, Berkeley Square, London; Keddlestone, Derbyshire; Luton House, Bedfordshire; and Compton Verney, Warwickshire.

“Whatever were the architectural defects of their works, the brothers formed a style, which was marked by a fine sense of proportion, and a very elegant taste in the selection and disposition of niches, lunettes, reliefs, festoons, and other classical ornaments. It was their custom to design furniture in character with their apartments, and their works of this kind are still highly prized. Amongst them may be specially mentioned their sideboards with elegant urn-shaped knife-boxes, but they also designed bookcases and commodes, brackets and pedestals, clock-cases and candelabra, mirror-frames and console tables of singular and original merit, adapting classical forms to modern uses with a success unrivalled by any other designer of furniture in England. They designed also carriages and plate, and a sedan-chair for Queen Charlotte. Of their decorative work generally it may be said that it was rich but neat, refined but not effeminate, chaste but not severe, and that it will probably have quite as lasting and beneficial effect upon English taste as their architectural structures.”[22]

Like Chippendale, they claimed more originality than they were entitled to when they wrote in their preface:

“We have not trod in the path of others, nor derived aid from their labours. In the books which we have had the honour to execute we have not only met with the approbation of our employers, but even with the imitation of other artists, to such a degree, as in some measure to have brought about in this country, a kind of revolution in the whole system of this useful and elegant art. These circumstances induced us to hope that to collect and engrave our works would afford both entertainment and instruction.”

They paid much attention to colour, and remark:

“We have thought it proper to colour with the tints used in the execution, a few copies of each number, not only that posterity might be enabled to judge with more accuracy concerning the taste of the present age, and that foreign connoisseurs might have it in their power to indulge their curiosity with respect to our national style of ornament; but that the public in general might have an opportunity of cultivating the beautiful art of decoration hitherto so little understood in most of the countries of Europe.”

The Adams tell us they intended to prefix to their book a dissertation regarding the rise and progress of architecture in Great Britain, “to have pointed out the various stages of its improvements from the time that our ancestors relinquishing the Gothic style, began to aim at an imitation of the Grecian manner, until it attained that degree of perfection at which it has now arrived.”

Thus the Gothic had no more admiration from the Adams than it had when Evelyn denounced it.

It is interesting to let them exhibit their own taste and rating of British architects.

“Michael Angelo, Raphael, and other Italian architects of the Renaissance boldly aimed at restoring the antique. But in their time the rage for painting became so prevalent, that instead of following these great examples, they covered every ceiling with large fresco compositions, which, though extremely fine and well painted, were very much misplaced, and must necessarily, from the attitude in which they are beheld, tire the patience of every spectator. Great compositions should be placed so as to be viewed with ease. Grotesque ornaments and figures in any situation are perceived with the glance of an eye, and require little examination. Inigo Jones introduced them into England with as much weight, but with little fancy and embellishment. Vanburgh, Campbell, and Gibbs, followed too implicitly the authority of this great name. Kent’s genius for the picturesque, and the vast reputation he deservedly acquired, made him in some measure withstand this prevalent abuse; he has much merit in being the first who began to lighten the compartments and to introduce grotesque paintings with his ornament in stucco; his works, however, are evidently those of a beginner. Mr. Stuart, with his usual elegance and taste, has contributed greatly towards introducing the true style of the antique decoration; and it seems to have been reserved for the present times to see compartment ceilings, and those of every kind, carried to a degree of perfection in Great Britain that far surpasses any of the former attempts of other modern nations.

“Inigo Jones, who had long studied in Italy, rescued this art (architecture) in a considerable degree from the Gothicism of former times, and began to introduce into his country a love of that elegance and refinement which characterize the productions of Greece and Rome.

“Instructed and encouraged by his example, Sir Christopher Wren became more chaste; and having the felicity to be employed in executing the most magnificent work of English architecture, he was enabled to display greater extent of genius.

“Vanburgh understood better than either the art of living among the great. A commodious arrangement of apartments was therefore his peculiar merit. But his lively imagination scorned the restraint of any rule in composition; and his passion for what was fancifully magnificent, prevented him from discerning what was truly simple, elegant, and sublime.

“Campbell, Gibbs, and Kent have each their peculiar share of merit.”

From their own testimony we can, therefore, not agree with them, when they write elsewhere:

“Inferior to our ancestors in science, we surpass them in taste.” However, they insist that at the time they write, “greater variety of form, greater beauty in design, greater gaiety, and elegance of ornament are introduced into interior decoration.”

They were greatly in demand, as we have seen, and not only altered the interiors and exteriors of many English mansions, but designed the decorations. Chimney-pieces, ceilings, walls, niches, the handles of doors, locks, key-plates, cornices, draperies, furniture, gold and silver ware, and even damask for the table. Nothing seemed too great, nor too slight for their hands. The attitude they had towards their work may be appreciated by the following words:

“If we have any claim to approbation, we found it on this alone. That we flatter ourselves we have been able to seize, with some degree of success, the beautiful spirit of antiquity, and to transfuse it, with novelty and variety, through all our numerous works.”

The pictures on Plates L., LI., and LII. are taken from the book by the Adams. No. 1, on Plate L., is the curtain cornice of the Earl of Derby’s Etruscan Room; No. 2 on the same plate is another cornice with drapery, which, with the mirror below it, were made for Sion House. No. 4 is the leg of a table and No. 5 is the upper part of the frame of a pier-glass. The lower drawing is a sideboard table, under which, in the original drawing, a wine-cooler stands. No. 3 is a table, also from Sion House.

The sofa appearing on Plate LI. is of mahogany, the woodwork fluted and mounted with brass reliefs. The legs are characteristic of Adam. The cover is woolen work on canvas.

The table on the same plate is inlaid and has a border of inlaid brass and wood around the top. The two drawers under the top have borders of brass and are decorated with brass lions. In the centre of each crosspiece there is a decoration of leaves surrounding a rosette. The legs are gilded at intervals, and are ornamented with gilt lion’s heads and end in claw feet. This dates from about 1780.

The screen on the same plate is supported on a stand of wood fluted and gilded, out of which rises a brass rod. The oval frame encloses a piece of silk embroidery said to have been made by Queen Caroline. The little picture in the centre is painted. No. 1 is a curtain cornice, of which Adam says: “These curtains were intended as an attempt to banish absurd French compositions.” No. 2 is a ewer, that also appears in the Adam book. Plate XLIX. is a library after the Adam style. The full drawing on Plate LII. is a commode from the Countess of Derby’s dressing-room; it is richly decorated. No. 2 is a detail. No. 3 on the same plate from it is a girandole, made for a niche in the Earl of Derby’s Etruscan Room. The full drawing is “a design of a vase for candles to be fixed to the wainscoting of a room”; the central vase is a perfume-burner. No. 1 is a tripod of gilded wood, intended to support a base with candles.

Among the ornaments used by the Adam brothers were mythological subjects, lozenge-shaped panels, octagons, ovals, hexagons, circles, wreaths, fans, husks, medallions, draped medallions, medallions with figures, the sphinx, the faun, goats, drapery, ribbons, eagle-headed grotesques, griffins, sea-horses, the ram’s head, the patera, the rosette, caryatides and other Classic motives.

The ornaments of the ceilings and walls were stucco picked out with different tints, frequently pink and green. In handsome rooms, the chimney-piece was of statuary marble, the overmantel carved in wood and gilt, or painted. The drawing-room ceiling was coved and the compartments painted. Pilasters were often used to divide the rooms and the ornaments of these, like the arches and panels of the doors, were painted. The frieze was stucco. Ornaments in the niches were frequently gilt, as well as the girandoles and stucco ornaments of the ceilings. The Adams also recommended ornaments printed on _papier maché_ and “so highly japanned as to appear like glass.” Damask and tapestry were used for hanging the drawing-room, but not the dining-room.

They assert that within the past few years there has been “a remarkable improvement in the form, convenience, arrangement and relief of apartments; a greater movement and variety, in the outside composition and in the decoration of the inside, an almost total change. The massive entablature, the ponderous compartment ceiling, the tabernacle frame almost the only species of ornament, formerly known in this country, are now universally exploded, and in their place we have adopted a beautiful variety of light mouldings, gracefully formed, delicately enriched and arranged with propriety and skill. We have introduced a great diversity of ceilings, frieze and decorated pilasters, and have added grace and beauty to the whole, by a mixture of grotesque[23] stucco and painted ornaments, together with the flowing _rinceau_,[24] with its fanciful figures and winding foliage.

“A proper arrangement and relief of apartments are branches of architecture in which the French have excelled all other nations; these have united magnificence with utility in the hôtels of their nobility, and have rendered them objects of universal imitation.

“To understand thoroughly the art of living, it is necessary, perhaps, to have passed some time among the French, and to have studied the customs of that social and conversible people. In one particular, however, our manners prevent us from imitating them. Their eating-rooms seldom or never constitute a piece in their great apartments, but lie out of the suite, and in fitting them up, little attention is paid to beauty or decoration. The reason of this is obvious; the French meet there only at meals, when they trust to the display of the table for show and magnificence, not to the decoration of the apartment; and as soon as the entertainment is over, they immediately retire to the rooms of company. Not so with us. Accustomed by habit, or induced by the nature of our climate, we indulge more largely in the enjoyment of the bottle. Every person of rank here is either a member of the legislature, or entitled by his condition to take part in the political arrangements of his country, and to enter with ardour into those discussions to which they give rise; these circumstances lead men to live more with one another, and more detached from the society of the ladies. The eating-rooms are considered as the apartments of conversation, in which we are to pass a great part of our time. This renders it desirable to have them fitted up with elegance and splendour, but in a style different from that of other apartments. Instead of being hung with damask, tapestry, etc., they are always finished with stucco, and adorned with statues and paintings, that they may not retain the smell of the victuals.”

The Adam brothers now describe what seems to them a correct arrangement of a suite of apartments. These they themselves planned and decorated for the Duke of Northumberland’s estate, Sion House, near London. “The hall, both in our homes and in those of France, is a spacious apartment, intended as the room of access where servants attend. It is here, a room of great dimensions, is finished with stucco, as halls always are, and formed with a recess at each end, one square and the other circular, which have a noble effect and increase the variety.

“The ante-rooms on each side are for the attendance of the servants out of livery, and also for that of the tradesmen, etc. These are relieved by the back stairs in the towers. That on the side of the great apartment is square, and is decorated with columns of verd antique marble, which serve to form the room and heighten the scenery. The ante-room, on the side of the private apartment, is formed into an oval, a figure seldom or never used by the ancients, but has been sometimes introduced by the moderns with success, and was here in some respect necessary from the oblong shape of the room.

“Next to the ante-rooms are the public and private eating-rooms; the public one is a room of great extent, finished with stucco and adorned with niches and statues of marble; it is formed into a great circular recess at each end and decorated with screens of columns. The private one has also its recesses and stucco-finishing, and is relieved by a back-stair for the use of the servants.

“Next to the great eating-room lies a splendid withdrawing room, for the ladies, or _salle de compagnie_, as it is called by the French; this is varied from the other rooms by the form of its ceiling, which is coved and painted in compartments. It gives access into a gallery of great length, though rather too narrow and too low to be in the just proportion we could have wished. It is, however, finished in a style to afford great variety and amusement, and is, for this reason, an admirable room for the reception of company before dinner, or for the ladies to retire to after it: For the withdrawing-room lying between this and the eating-room, prevents the noise of the men from being troublesome; and for this reason we would always recommend the intervention of a room in great apartments to prevent such inconvenience.

“The little closets or cabinets, the circular one for china, and the other square one for miniatures, at each end of the gallery, serve only for an additional ornament. The gallery itself, as well as the private apartments, is relieved by the circular back stairs, and gives access to the ranges of apartments on both sides.

“The great circular saloon is a noble room entering from the hall, and leading into the gallery and great stairs, relieves all the other apartments: this serves also for a room of general rendez-vous, and for public entertainments, with illuminations, dancing and music. The form is new and singular; it is a circle within a circle, the smaller opening into the larger, by eight piercings adorned with columns and terminated with niches and statues, so that the scenery, like the decorations of a theatre, apparently increases the extent, and leaves room for the imagination to play.

“The private apartments are now the only part of the plan remaining undescribed; on one hand is the Duchess’s bed-chamber, an ante-chamber for the attendance of her maid; her toilet or dressing-room, her powdering-room, water-closet and outer ante-room, with a back stair leading to the intersols for the maids’ bedrooms and wardrobes, etc. On the other hand is a dressing-room for the Duke, a powdering-room, writing-room, with closet and stairs to intersols for His Grace’s valet-de-chambre, and wardrobe, etc.”

The Adams also made changes at Kenwood in 1774, introducing their plans and decorations into an addition. “The great room with its ante-room was begun by Lord Mansfield’s orders in 1767, and was intended both for a library and a room for receiving company. The circular recesses were therefore fitted up for the former purpose, and the square part or body of the room was made suitable to the latter. The whole is reckoned elegant in its proportions and decorations, and the ceiling in particular, which is a segment of a circle, has been greatly admired.”

This ceiling is in “imitation of a flat arch, which is extremely beautiful and much more perfect than that which is commonly called the coved ceiling,” and Adam thus continues to describe it: “The stucco-work of this ceiling and of the other decorations is finely executed by Mr. Joseph Rose. The paintings are elegantly performed by Mr. Antonio Zucchi, a Venetian painter of great eminence; and the grounds of the panels and friezes are coloured with light tints of pink and green, so as to take off the glare of white, so common in every ceiling till of late. This always appeared to me so cold and unfinished, that I ventured to introduce this variety of grounds, at once to relieve the ornaments, remove the crudeness of the white, and create a harmony between the ceiling and the side walls with their hangings, pictures and other decorations.”

The Adams were very fond of this combination of colour. Osterley Park, the seat of the Earl of Jersey and one of the finest specimens of the Adam style extant, had its dining-room similarly painted by Zucchi. It is thus described:

“The dining-room at Osterley Park, owned by the Earl of Jersey, was decorated by Zucchi in the Adam style. The walls of this apartment are in tints of the tenderest green and the very palest pinks, these colours being panelled by delicate scroll-work and artistic designs in the white composition which was known only to the Adam brothers. Three large pictures and several smaller ones, all being scenes and landscapes by Zucchi, are framed in this white scroll-work, while the same curving lines, with grapes and vine leaves, outline the pink and green panels of the ceilings, the design of which corresponds with the design of the neutral-tinted carpet. The tiny scroll patterns of the window mouldings are repeated in the ornamentation of the mahogany doors with their artistic brass locks and are again found in the designs of the _buffets_ and side tables, where the ram’s head is introduced, which occurs more than once in both furniture and ornaments. Even the tablecloths were made to correspond in their woven pattern, and some are still in use bearing the date 1779. This careful and minute arrangement of detail is found only in an Adam House.”[25]

W. Thomas was another designer in the Adam style; but of far greater importance was Michael Angelo Pergolesi, who was employed by the Adam brothers, and whose designs are equal to theirs. Pergolesi also employed Zucchi, Cipriani and Angelica Kauffman. His books of designs came out in parts from 1777 onward. One of Pergolesi’s rooms “has a low dado rail, plain plaster walls, panelled round with a moulding, a fine mantel-piece and a narrow ornamental compo frieze and plain ceiling.” Angelica Kauffman painted ceilings, table-tops, and furniture-panels, which, like Cipriani’s productions, represent cherubs, maidens, gods and goddesses, and _amorini_.

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Footnote 21:

Scagliola, mentioned above, was a kind of plaster made of gypsum and
Flanders glue. It was coloured to imitate marble. The Adam brothers
made great use of it, as well as plaster of Paris pressed in metal
moulds.

Footnote 22:

Cosmo Monkhouse.

Footnote 23:

“By _grotesque_ is meant that beautiful light stile of ornament used
by the ancient Romans in the decoration of the palaces, baths and
villas. It is also to be seen in some of their amphitheatres, temples
and tombs; the greatest part of which being vaulted and covered with
ruins, have been dug up and cleared by the modern Italians, who, for
these reasons, give them the name of _grotte_, which is perhaps a
corruption of the Latin _Criptæ_, a word borrowed from the Greeks, as
the Romans did most of their terms, in architecture; and hence the
word _grotesque_, and the English word signifying a cave.

“In the times of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Julio Romano, Polidoro,
Giov. d’Udine, Vasari, Zuchero and Algardi, there is no doubt but
there was much greater remains of the grotte, than what are now to be
seen, and in imitation of them were decorated the _loggias_ of the
Vatican, the villas Madama, Pamfili, Caprarola, the old palace at
Florence; and indeed whatever else is elegant and admirable in the
finishings of modern Italy. The French, who till of late never adopted
the ornaments of the ancients, and jealous as all mankind are of the
reputation of their national taste, have branded those ornaments with
the vague and fantastical appellation of arabesque, a stile which,
though entirely distinct from the grotesque, has, notwithstanding,
been most absurdly and universally confounded with it by the ignorant.

“This classical stile of ornament, by far the most perfect that has
ever appeared for inside decorations, and which has stood the test of
many ages, like other works of genius, requires not only fancy and
imagination in the composition, but taste and judgment in the
application; and when these are happily combined, this gay and elegant
mode is capable of inimitable beauties.

“Vitruvius with great reason condemns an over-licentiousness in
compositions of this kind, and blames the painters of his time for
introducing monstrous extravagances. We mean not to vindicate anything
that deserves such appellations, but surely in light and gay
compositions, designed merely to amuse, it is not altogether necessary
to exclude the whimsical and bizarre.”

Footnote 24:

“_Rainceau_, apparently derived from rain, an old French word,
signifying the branch of a tree. This French term is also used by the
artists of this country, to express the winding and twisting of the
stalk or stem of the acanthus plant, which flowing round in many
graceful turnings spreads its foliage with great beauty and variety,
and is often intermixed with human figures, animals and birds,
imaginary or real; also with flowers and fruits.

“This gay and fanciful diversity of agreeable objects, well composed
and delicately executed in stucco or painting, attains a wonderful
power of pleasing.”

Footnote 25:

E. Balch, _Glimpses of Old English Homes_.

THE HEPPELWHITE PERIOD

THE HEPPELWHITE PERIOD

Quite different from the sumptuous book by Robert and James Adam is the one that was published in 1788 by the firm of “A. Heppelwhite & Co., Cabinet-Makers.” This is a collection of three hundred designs by cabinet-makers for cabinet-makers and gentlemen. The title-page, which is also a table of contents, reads as follows:

“The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide, or Repository of Designs, for every article of Household Furniture, in the Newest and most approved Taste, displaying a great variety of patterns for Chairs, Stools, Sofas, Confidante, Duchesse, Side Boards, Pedestal and Vases, Cellerets, Knife-Cases, Desk and Book-Cases, Secretary and Book-Cases, Library-Cases, Library-Tables, Reading-Desks, Chests-of-Drawers, Urn-Stands, Tea-Caddies, Tea-Trays, Card-Tables, Pier-Tables, Pembroke-Tables, Tambour-Tables, Dressing-Glasses, Dressing-Tables and Drawers, Commodes, Rudd’s Table, Bidets, Night-Tables, Bason-Stands, Wardrobes, Pot-Cupboards, Brackets, Hanging-Shelves, Fire-Screens, Beds, Field-Beds, Sweep Tops for Ditto, Bed-Pillars, Candle-Stands, Lamps, Pier-Glasses, Terms for Busts, Cornices for Library-Cases, Wardrobes, etc., at large, Ornamented Tops for Pier-Tables, Pembroke-Tables, Commodes, etc., etc., in the Plainest and most Enriched Styles.”

In his preface, Heppelwhite explains his ideas as follows:

“To unite elegance and utility, and blend the useful with the agreeable, has ever been considered a difficult, but an honourable task.

“It may be allowable to say, we have exerted our utmost endeavours to produce a work which shall be useful to the mechanic, and serviceable to the gentleman. With this view, after having fixed upon such articles as were necessary to a complete suit of furniture, our judgment was called forth in selecting such patterns as were most likely to be of general use—in choosing such points of view as would show them most distinctly—and in exhibiting such fashions as were necessary to answer the end proposed, and convey a just idea of English taste in furniture for houses.

“English taste and workmanship have, of late years, been much sought for by surrounding nations; and the mutability of all things, but more especially of fashions, has rendered the labours of our predecessors in this line of little use: nay, at this day, they can only tend to mislead those Foreigners, who seek a knowledge of the English taste in the various articles of household furniture.

“The same reason, in favour of this work, will apply also to many of our own Countrymen and Artisans, whose distance from the metropolis makes even an imperfect knowledge of its improvements acquired with much trouble and expense. Our labours will, we hope, tend to remove this difficulty; and as our idea of the useful was such articles as are generally serviceable in genteel life, we flatter ourselves the labour and pains we have bestowed on this work will not be considered as time uselessly spent.

“To Residents in London, though our drawings are all new, yet, as we designedly followed the latest or most prevailing fashion only, purposely omitting such articles whose recommendation was mere novelty, and perhaps a violation of all established rule, the production of whim at the instance of caprice, whose appetite must ever suffer disappointment if any similar thing had been previously thought of; we say, having regularly avoided those fancies, and steadily adhered to such articles only as are of general use and service, our principal hope for favour and encouragement will be, in having combined near three hundred different patterns for furniture in so small a space, and at so small a price. In this instance we hope for reward; and though we lay no claim to extraordinary merit in our designs, we flatter ourselves they will be found serviceable to young workmen in general and occasionally to more experienced ones.”

From the above quotation, it will be noticed that the firm of Heppelwhite and Company eschews extravagant designs, and aims to represent at the same time what is newest and most fashionable. We see, too, that previous publications sold, such as Chippendale’s, Ince and Mayhew’s, Edwards and Darly’s, and others that we have mentioned, are considered entirely out of date.

As far as Heppelwhite is concerned, neither the Chinese nor Gothic style ever existed. The straight line is insisted upon, and he prefers to any other the tapering and slender “term” leg ending in the “spade” foot. (See full drawings on Plates LIV., LV., LVI., and LVII., and Nos. 2 and 3 on Plate LIV.) The legs are frequently inlaid with the husk, or bell-flower, in satin-wood. His favourite ornamentations, whether carved, inlaid, or painted and japanned, are the bell-flower in swags and chutes, the lotus, the rosette, the acanthus, the shell, the urn with and without drapery, and the three feathers of the Prince of Wales’s crest. (See Plate LVI., Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8.) The brass-headed nail is always used for fastening the material to the frames of his seats. These are always placed close together, and are sometimes arranged in the form of festoons, or scallops, around the seat. The stripe is his favourite design for coverings. The festoon and the ornamental tassel he greatly admires.

The Heppelwhite chair has attained great fame. Generally speaking, its proportions are as follows: height, 3 feet, 1 inch; height to seat frame, 17 inches; depth of seat, 17 inches; and width of seat in front, 20 inches. Many chairs, however, are recommended to be made “according to the size of the room or pleasure of the purchaser.” For coverings of drawing-room chairs, such as Nos. 1, 5 and 8 on Plate LVI., silks and satins of light colours with printed oval medallions, or floral designs were used, and more particularly stripes, which were becoming more and more fashionable in France. Blue, or red, morocco leather, put on with ornamental brass nails, is another popular method of upholstering these articles. One of Heppelwhite’s instructions is that “leather backs or seats should be tied down with tassels, of silk or thread.” For the open back and carved chair, such as Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 on Plate LVI. silk, satin, and leather are used, and horsehair, figured, checked, plain, or striped, is also popular.

No. 7 on Plate LVI., which may be of mahogany, or japanned, has a cane bottom in the original design, and “should have a cushion of linen, leather, etc.”

Some of Heppelwhite’s carved chair-backs are square, and anticipate those of Sheraton represented on Plate LXII.; but he was fonder of the shield form. Backs of this shape were covered as in No. 5, Plate LVI., or had carved and open-backs, as the other examples shown on the same Plate.

Of chairs he writes:

“Chairs in general are made of mahogany, with the bar and frame sunk in a hollow, or rising in a round projection with a band or list on the inner and outer edges. Many of these designs are enriched with ornaments proper to be carved in mahogany. Mahogany chairs should have the seats of horsehair, plain, striped, chequered, etc., at pleasure, or cane bottoms with cushions, the cases of which should be covered with the same as the curtains.

“For chairs, a new and very elegant fashion has arisen within these few years, of finishing them with painted or japanned work, which gives a rich and splendid appearance to the minuter parts of the ornaments, which are generally thrown in by the painters. Several of these designs are particularly adapted to this style, which allows a framework less massy than is requisite for mahogany, and by assorting the prevailing colour to the furniture and light of the room, affords opportunity, by the variety of grounds which may be introduced, to make the whole accord in harmony, with a pleasing and striking effect to the eye. Japanese chairs should have cane bottoms, with linen or cotton cases over cushions to accord with the general hue of the chairs.”

The full drawing on Plate LVI. is “an easy chair,” which Heppelwhite calls also a “Saddle Check,” the “construction and use of which is very apparent: they may be covered with leather, horsehair, or have a linen case to fit over the canvas stuffing, as is most usual and convenient.”

Chairs with stuffed backs he called “cabriole.” No. 5, on Plate LVI., is labelled a “cabriole chair.” Heppelwhite assures us that it “is of the newest fashion.” It consists of a shield-shaped back; a little cushion upon the arm, fastened by means of tiny nails; and a leg composed of reeds bound with ribbon, surmounted by the square patera that hides the joining.

Twelve designs of chair backs, resembling chairs of the Sheraton style, are “proper to be executed in mahogany or japan; some of them applicable to the more elegant kind of chairs with back and seats of red, or blue, morocco leather; in these backs, which are sometimes made a little circular, are frequently inserted medallions, printed or painted on silk of the natural colours; when the backs and seats are of leather, they should be tied down with tassels of silk or thread.”

“Stools,” he says, “should match the chairs, the framework should be of mahogany, or japanned, and of course should be covered like the chairs.” His “window stools” are particularly graceful. They are intended to be placed directly under the window, and their “size must be regulated by the size of the place where they are to stand; their heights should not exceed the heights of the chairs.” Two of his designs, which he considers “particularly adapted for an elegant drawing-room of japanned furniture,” are covered in “taberray or morine of pea-green or other light colour.” The one represented on Plate LV. is of “carved mahogany with furniture of an elegant pattern.” He assures us that this “will produce a very pleasing effect.” Another one he recommends to be “japanned and covered with striped furniture;” and two others are “covered with linen or cotton to match the chairs. One is tufted and ornamented with buttons and the other has a scalloped valance trimmed with fringe. A tiny tassel hangs in the centre of each scallop.”

The general characteristics of the stuffed Heppelwhite sofa appear in the full drawing on Plate LIV., which also shows the correct covering fastened to the frame by a border of gilt nails. The dimensions of the sofa vary according to the size of the room, but the “proportion in general use” is as follows: length from 6 to 7 feet; depth about 30 inches; height of the seat frame, 14 inches; and total in the back, 3 feet, 1 inch. “The woodwork should be either mahogany or japanned, in accordance to the chairs, and the covering also must be of the same.” A long square sofa he calls “the newest fashion,” and recommends that “the frame should be japanned, with green on a white ground and the edges gilt; the covering of red morocco leather.”

French forms and names were just as popular with Heppelwhite as with Chippendale. On Plate LIV., No. 5, is shown a confidante of Heppelwhite’s design. He writes:

“This piece of furniture is of French origin, and is in pretty general request for large and spacious suits of apartments. An elegant drawing-room, with modern furniture is scarce complete without a Confidante, the extent of which may be about nine feet, subject to the same regulations as sofas. This piece of furniture is sometimes so constructed that the ends take away and leave a regular sofa; the ends may be used as Barjier Chairs.” The last name refers to the _bergère_.

Heppelwhite writes of the _duchesse_:

“This piece of furniture also is derived from the French. Two Barjier chairs of proper construction, with a stool in the middle, form the Duchesse, which is allotted to large and spacious ante-rooms; the covering may be various, as also the framework, and made from 6 to 8 feet long. The stuffing may be of the round manner as shown in the drawing, or low-stuffed with a loose squab, or bordered cushion, fitted to each part; with a duplicate linen cover to cover the whole, or each part separately. Confidantes, sofas and chairs may be stuffed in the same manner.”

Another variety is the “bar back,” which appears as if four open-back chairs (similar to No. 7, Plate LVI.) are placed side by side, the two end ones being supplied with an elbow, the general outline of which follows that of No. 8, or No. 5, on Plate LVI. We are told that this kind of sofa is of modern invention; and “the lightness of its appearance has procured it a favourable reception in the first circles of fashion. The pattern of the back must match the chairs; these also will regulate the sort of framework and covering.”

Heppelwhite’s beds are much lighter in general appearance than Chippendale’s, both with regard to framework and the hangings. “Beds are an article of much importance,” he thinks, “as well on account of the great expense attending them as the variety of shapes and the high degree of elegance which may be shown in them. They may be executed of almost every stuff the loom produces. White dimity, plain or corded, is peculiarly applicable for the furniture, which, with a fringe or gymp-head, produces an effect of elegance and neatness truly agreeable. The Manchester stuffs have been wrought into Bed-furniture with good success. Printed cottons and linens are also very suitable, the elegance and variety of patterns of which afford as much scope for taste, elegance and simplicity as the most lively fancy can wish. In general, the lining to these kinds of furniture is a plain white cotton. To furniture of a dark pattern, a green silk lining may be used with a good effect.” One of Heppelwhite’s beds on the general model of the one represented as Nos. 1 and 2 on Plate LVII. was hung with dove-coloured satin curtains with a lining of green silk. “The Vallance to this bed,” he writes, “is tied up in festoons. The cornice of mahogany may come so low as to hide the curtain rods.” He also gives designs of “Venetian, or waggon top beds,” “dome top beds,” “square dome top beds,” “press beds” and “field beds,” and gives the following instructions with regard to the richest kinds:

“In staterooms where a high degree of elegance and grandeur are wanted, beds are frequently made of silk or satin figured or plain, also of velvet with gold fringe, etc. The Vallance to elegant beds should always be gathered full, which is called a Petticoat Vallance. The Cornices may be either of mahogany carved, carved or gilt, or painted and japanned. The ornaments over the cornices may be in the same manner; and carved and gilt, or japanned, will produce the most lively effect.

“Arms or other ornaments to Stuffed Head Boards should be carved in small relief, gilt and burnished. The Pillars should be of mahogany, with the enrichments carved.”

The field-bed, of which a design dated 1787 appears on Plate LVII., is the French _lit à tombeau_ and _lit à double tombeau_. In England it was known as the single-headed and double-headed field-bed. A single-headed bed of this kind appears on Plate XXXVI., No. 8; and this Louis XV. model was copied by Chippendale for his later plates, in which many varieties of the field-bed appear. The bed represented on Plate LVII. needs no explanation. The cornice, or “sweep,” is delicately carved. Urns surmount the bed-posts. Below it, on Plate LVII., are “sweeps for field-bed tops” dated 1787 (Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7). Another design in Heppelwhite’s book for a bed with a sweep top is intended to be made of plain mahogany or with gilt ornaments. The headboard and draperies are quite elaborate. “The drapery may be the same as the furniture or the lining, the ornaments gilt, the headboard is stuffed and projects like the back of a sofa. The addition of stuffed headboards gives an elegant and high finish to the appearance of beds.”

The “press bed” is nothing more or less than a folding-bed in the shape of a wardrobe, with two big doors beneath which are drawers. Heppelwhite says:

“Of these we have purposely omitted to give any designs: their general appearance varying so little from wardrobes, which pieces of furniture they are intended to represent, that designs for them are not necessary.

“The upper drawers would be only sham and form part of the door, which may be made to turn up all in one piece, and form a tester; or may open in the middle, and swing on each side; the under drawer is useful to hold parts of the bed furniture; may be 5 feet 6 inches high, 14 feet wide.

“Nine designs for Cornices which are suitable for beds or windows are here shewn; these may be executed in wood painted and japanned, or in gold. A mixture of these two manners produces an elegant and grand effect. The foliage may be gilt, and the groundwork painted; or the reverse.” One of these appears as No. 4 on Plate LIV. This exhibits the curtain and toothed lappets, or points, of the lambrequin below the cornice.

The sideboard with Heppelwhite is quite different to that of Chippendale. The latter merely designs a long plain table with carved legs and no drawers. Heppelwhite’s sideboard is a far more highly developed piece of furniture. Sometimes the drawers were arranged in compartments, for various uses, and the sideboard had a cavity between the front legs to accommodate a wine-cooler. Pieces of plate and knife-cases stood upon its wide slab. The sideboard represented on Plate LIV. has Heppelwhite’s characteristic inlay of the husk or bell-flower done in satin-wood and the characteristic “spade” foot. An inlaid floral ornament decorates the corners below the front drawer.

Heppelwhite remarks:

“The great utility of this piece of furniture has procured it a very general reception; and the conveniences it affords render a dining-room incomplete without a sideboard.” The one represented on Plate LIV. has several drawers. The right-hand drawer “has partitions for nine bottles. Behind this is a place for cloths or napkins, occupying the whole depth of the drawer.”

“The drawer on the left hand has two divisions, the hinder one lined with green cloth to hold plate, etc., under a cover; the front one is lined with lead for the convenience of holding water to wash glasses, etc., there must be a valve-cock, or plug, at the bottom, to let off the dirty water; and also in the other drawer, to change the water necessary to keep the wine, etc., cool; or they may be made to take out. The long drawer in the middle is adapted for table linen, etc.

“They are often made to fit into a recess, but the general custom is to make them from 5½ to 7 feet long, 3 feet high, and 28 to 32 inches wide.”

He also gives designs for “sideboards without drawers; the ornaments to the front of which may be carved, painted, or inlaid with various coloured woods.” This kind is merely the old sideboard table.

Of pedestals he writes:

“Pedestals and vases are much used in spacious dining-rooms, where the last-described kind of sideboards are chosen; at each end of which they are placed. One pedestal serves as a plate-warmer, being provided with racks and a stand for a heater; and is lined with a strong tin; the other pedestal is used as a pot cupboard.

“The vases may be used to hold water for the use of the butter, or iced water for drinking, which is inclosed in an inner partition, the ice surrounding it; or it may be used as knife-cases, in which case they are made of wood, or of copper japanned. The height of the pedestal is the same as the sideboard and 16 or 18 inches square; the height of the vase about 2 feet, 3 inches.”

Of the knife-case, he says:

“The universality of this piece of furniture renders a particular description not necessary. It may be made of mahogany inlaid, or of satin or other wood at pleasure.”

Four designs of _vase knife cases_ are given. “They are usually made of satin, or other light-coloured wood, and may be placed at each end on the sideboards, or on a pedestal; the knives, etc., fall into the body of the vase, the top of which is kept up by a small spring which is fixed to the stem, which supports the top; may be made of copper, painted and japanned.”

One of these is shown on Plate LV., No. 4.

“Cellerets,” he tells us, “called also _gardes de vin_, are generally made of mahogany, and hooped with brass hoops lacquered; the inner part is divided with partitions, and lined with lead for bottles; may be made of any shape. These are of general use where sideboards are without drawers.”

Plate LIII. shows all of these articles except the celleret. The sideboard is similar to that on Plate LIV. and upon it stand knife boxes and a lustre. Pedestals supporting the vases described above stand on either side. Above is an ornate mirror.

“Candlestands are very useful in large suits of apartments, as the light may be placed in any part at pleasure—in drawing-rooms, in halls and on large staircases, they are frequently used. These designs may be executed in mahogany or wood japanned.” A very graceful example appears as No. 6 on Plate LV. It has five branches, three of which only are shown in the sketch here. This is to be made in mahogany or japanned wood and the branches are lacquered brass.

No. 1 on Plate LIV. represents a little urn-stand “to set the teapot on.” This is about 26 inches high and can be painted or varnished or inlaid with various coloured woods.

The “Pole fire screen,” a specimen of which is shown on Plate LV., No. 5, “may be ornamented variously, with maps, Chinese figures, needlework, etc. The screen is suspended on the pole by means of a spring in the eye, through which the pole goes.” These articles are made of mahogany or japanned wood.

The Horse fire-screen is supported by uprights standing on feet. The screen slides up and down in grooves in these uprights. The framework is usually of mahogany and the screen is covered with green silk needlework, etc. Heppelwhite’s lamps are often ornamented with brass work. He gives, however, a square one to be made in mahogany. Of great importance are his mirrors with sconce arms, which he calls “Girandoles,” and remarks: “This kind of ornament admits of great variety in pattern and elegance; they are usually executed of the best carved work,—gilt and burnished in parts. They may be carved and coloured suitable to the room.” A very graceful example is shown as No. 3 on Plate LV. The mirror fills the entire oval. Girandoles also hang on the walls of the room shown as Plate LIII.