georgian england

7/30/2019 Georgian England

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Georgian England

The Georgian Era roughly covers the reigns of the four Georges-George I(1714-1727)

George II(1727-1760)George III(1760-1820)

George IV(1820-1830)

This period covers a succession of styles-Rococo, Palladian ,Gothic and Chinese and

finally in the 19th century Neo Classical and Regency.

Furniture between 1714-1760 show the defined characteristics of what is called Georgian

style.

The 18th century was the golden age of English furniture. The wealthy and educatedEnglish aristocracy built magnificent Palladian style villas in the country. This was the

era when architecture and garden design were discussed at length by the nobility

dilettantes who had broadened their minds by the experiences of the Grand Tour in

France , Germany and Italy.The aristocrat who took pleasure in the arts required a setting fit for the display of the

treasure he had acquired abroad. The study became an important room for the display ofscientific curiosities ,coins etc and the library became a room for social intercourse and

where books were instruments for entertainment rather than rare objects. Gothic ruins

,Chinese gardens ,Pompeian ruins were all topics of discussion ,the parameters of whichwere taste style and elegance.

From time to time conclusions would be drawn and the supremacy of one style chosen

over anotherthe serpentine line preferred to the linear and irregularity of say Rococo to

the symmetry of Classical design.Cabinet makers followed the vagaries of taste and fashion.

This was the era of the cabinet maker and witnessed the introduction of the first interiordesigner.


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William Kent and the classical baroque style

William Kents name is synonymous with the Palladian movement. He studied painting

in Rome and first worked as a painter and fresco artist. Soon however he found his

vocation in life under the cultural guidance of Lord Burlington an important patron and

amateur architect. They designed together the faade of the Treasury building ..He advocated in architecture a return to the simplicity and classical dimensions of

Palladio and applied these ideals to both the external structure and interior decoration of

his building. Houghton Hall and Holkham hall are two fine examples of his prowess asarchitect and interior designer.

Unlike his architecture ,Kent, however, unleashed his imagination in the designs of his

furniture. His furniture display a Baroque opulence in their sumptous decorations and arearchitectural and statuesque in form.

Kent visually planned his rooms like he planned his gardens. They offered him a chance

to create romantic vistas the sweeping curve of a staircase, a view across a roometc

His rooms were conceived as a whole and usually there was one focal point an imposing

feature to catch the eye.


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Florid or pompous Kents furniture reveled in ornamentation. It was furniture for the rich.

Cabriole legs were embellished with animal details such as lions eagles owl

And human masks, claw and balls feet and eagles talons. Lions manes foliated scrollsrocks and shells were all in his vocabulary.

Kent pioneered the practice of designing the movable as well as the fixed furniture in aroom. Furniture was designed as part of the design of a room. Carved and gilt mirrors

hung en suite with pier tables. Their size and weight made it impractical to move them

and they were virtually architectural features. Chairs fulfilled function rather thanarchitectural needs. Sconces , brackets symmetrically disposed on which bronze busts

could be displayed-artifacts brought back from the grand tour, and other wall fittings

were all part of the scheme of things.

Furniture

The console table above others epitomized the aims and aspirations of the designer.

This is a side table introduced as a permanent fixture projecting from the wall. In somecases the back is fixed to the wall and it has bracket supports which are carved and

detailed. Others stand on four legs and were placed in a permanent position against thewall. The table offered a sturdy rigid surface ideal for displaying a treasured ornament or

vast flower arrangement.

Kent designed a spectacular console where he used the eagles body as a bracket-thewings sloped backwards for support and strut concealment.

The top was surmounted by Italian marble which was expensive. Scagliola was a less

expensive option. When not used for purely decorative purposes console tables were used

as sideboards for food utensils etc.


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Console tables were made in walnut, giltwood or wood embellished by gesso.

They embodied the full repertoire of motifs found in chairs ie-human heads sphinx putti,

family coat of arms in their aprons a, brackets and legs. Double shell motif is a favouritemotif of Kents.

Carved side aprons covered supporting brackets.

Chairs

At an early stage hoof feet were popular and later between 1720 and 1735 there waswidespread carving of the lions mask on chair legs and arms .Fish scales was another

motif used to decorate legs which could end in dolphin heads. Chairs were becoming

wider in order to accommodate the large hoop skirts of the times. Arm supports were

being raked, the upper end being considerably farther back than the lower.Seat rails received carving and gilt chairs proliferate , gesso being pliable to baroque

ornamentation.

Chairs were made in softwoods and after 1740 in walnut.

Mirrors

Design of mirrors were an integral part of the console table concept of unified design.

From 1725 the design of mirrors was directly inspired by their architectural setting.Mouldings followed the pattern of those on console(pier tables) tables, doors cornices etc.

Gateleg table was made with a circular or oval top. Others were made with square flaps

so that they could be joined together when there was a large company for dining.

Giant library tables often in Mahogany, with drawers, were made ,sporting elaborate

mouldings, carved pendants of flowers and lion masks, often combined with architectural

columns. The owl symbol of learning was a popular motif here.

Kneehole desks were introduced also as dressing tables.

1740s onwards

By the middle of the 18th century furniture making in England would seem to have been

dominated by a handful of individuals-Chippendale ,Adam , Hepplewhite ,Sheraton.

In the history of furniture they were men of stature and they lent their names to

conveniently labeled styles. There were hundreds of cabinet makers a reflection of


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demand especially by the well heeled middle classes. Fashion was a relentless dictator

and a familys status was affirmed by its ability to reflect the trends of the time. Another

influence in the demand for furniture was the changing pattern of living habits among themiddle classes. There was time for conversation for reading, writing , for having long

meals, card games needlework and a great deal of furniture was made to meet these

varied demands of life.

Thomas Chippendale

In this milieu of stylistic fancies no cabinetmaker was more perspicacious in recognizing

the furniture needs than Thomas Chippendale. He came from a Yorkshire family of

joiners and after moving a few places he worked out of a cabinet and upholstery

warehouse in St Martins lane, London till his death in 1774.In 1754 Chippendale published The Gentlemans and Cabinetmakers Director which

became a bestseller and was responsible for his success both in his lifetime and in the

eyes of posterity.

Chippendales aim was to make good furniture in the latest styles suited to the fancy andcircumstances of persons in all degrees of life. The Director remains an unparalleled

guide to mid 18th century furniture both as regards style as well as the kind of objectsused by people with money.

Rococo a style earlier rejected by the Whigs had established itself in full form.

Chippendale succeeded in provided designs in the Georgian ,Rococo, the French ,theGothick ,the Chinese ,and the Neo Classical which form a complete and representative

example of the various trends of the period.


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Chairs were proposed without arms with backs pierced and carved with interlaced scrolls

and leaves.Chippendales name is synonymous to a chair of this description-The top rail is shaped

like a bow, forming sharp angles at the ends and there is delicate tracery in the back slat.

The legs are cabriole carved with acanthus leaves and cartouches. Typical ofChippendales work are the ribbon backed chairs in which the wood of the chair back is

carved to resemble entwined ribbons.

Although the claw and ball foot survived into the 1750s Chippendale only illustrated the

more fashionable rocaille or French scrolled type.Upholstered chairs were proposed of the French form with cartouche shaped backs.

Gothick tracery pattern were used on Gothick styled chairs whos backs are decorated

with pointed arches finials panels with quatrefoil motifs and other motifs inspired by the


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Gothic style, where legs were straight.

Chinese Chippendale chairs had pagoda style top rail with geometric latticeworkback .the legs were straight and the pierced lattice decoration is (could be) repeated on

the legs.

Sofas were made either of gilded pine or mahogany and the tradition of forming the

backs out of several chair backs persisted.French style

Chippendale transalated the French taste into an English form. Cabriole leg sofas andcommodes bordered with acanthus and shell decoration. But unlike French furniture of

the period designs were executed in mahogany with decoration carved on the wood rather

than applied in the form of metal mounts.


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Chinese style

Chippendale introduced what he thought of as oriental motifs on his furniture .They werein the form of pagoda surmounts, galleries of fretwork,interlaced little sticks and bamboo

and appear on chair backs ,stetchers ,legs, doors of bookcases and on bedheads.

Gothick style

Gothick taste was promoted by Sir Hugh Walpole whos fashionable villa Strawberry

Hill was a feature in the social arena.

Gothic tracery was carved on mahogany cupboard doors,sides of desks..The Director contained not only chairs but bookcases desks and sideboards applied with

finials and ogival motifs often mixed with ornamental characteristics of other styles and

imposed on furniture Georgian in structure.

Neo Classic

His neo classical pieces showed his originality as a designer for although they fit intorooms designed by Adam it is clear from records that Chippendale supplied furniture

independent of Adam.


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The Rococo style

French artist and teacher arrived in London in 1732.He was responsible for, in the field ofdecorative arts the spread of the picturesque and he contributed to the introduction of the

serpentine outline. William Hogarth later expressed it as the most effective way to

express beauty of form. Hogarth called the straight line unnatural compared with thecurved line, which he considered fundamental to design. The serpentine line he felt

would give fluid shape to a piece of furniture.

Irregular lines and asymmetry, shells sprays ,drops of water flowers branches. TheRococo in England was limited to one or two rooms.Dining rooms would boast vines and

Bacchic figures ,drawing rooms musical trophies, bedrooms would boast flowers, putti

etc,dressing rooms would be adorned with chinoiseries and gothic motifs-gothic for men

and chinoiseries for ladies.Its usual manifestations on furniture were as geometric trellis work known as railing,in

the backs and sides of chairs,fret cut patterns in borders,pagodas surmounting beds

,display units,chairs.18th century chinoiserie was part of the Rococ style-a frolicsome

search for the fantastic and exotic rather than a serious copying of the originals. LikeGothick it had no bearing in history or geography.

Thomas Johnson ,Linnel names of other important cabinet makers and Mathias Locke an

exceptional carver and cabinetmaker. Mayhew and Ince and Thomas Vile cbinet maker

to the Crown.

Chippendales essays in chinoiserie-japanned china carved canopied and dripping with

icicles case,chunky sideboards and library tables plain except for fret cutting in the

friezes andfretted brackets.Chippendale recommended japanning for lighter furniture intended for ladies

rooms.Gilding he suggested for smaller items such as stands firescreens ,brackets.

Missing from the Director are dining tables and sideboard units.

Robert Adam

Robert Adam revolutionized interiors with his novel decorative style. Adam drew on

many sources for his style and assimilated and renewed them in a light and graceful

manner. Adamsinterpretations of the designs of ancient Greece and Rome involveddecoration rather than form. His decoratins include Classical motifs strings and festoons

of husks or bell flowers, paterae,highly formalized shell ornaments, honeysuckle,


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palmleaves and delicate formal scrollsof foliage which he called the flowing rainceau or branch.

A good deal of Adams furniture is painted. Under Adam mahogany carving of the1740s and 1750s gave way to inlaid decoration and besides mahogany lighter woods

like golden yellow satinwood. Exotic woods such as pinkish hued tulipwood ,kingwood

and for veneers with marquetry in contrasting woods such as sycamore, harewood, hollybox or ebony for flowers and other neo-classic motifs.

His furniture falls into four phases.

His first designs were reinterpretations of the Georgian in style seen in an armchairdesigned in 1764.The surface decoration consists of honeysuckle Classical sphinxes and

delicate formalized scrolls of foliage from his repertoire of ornament. But the bow shaped

rail and curved shape of leg echo the Georgian form.

By the late 1760s Adam had developed a more suitable rectilinear style. We see the

rectangular side table with a marble, scagliola or marquetried wood top. Classical motifs

decorate the carved and painted or gilded frieze and the legs which were generally


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arranged in pairs were of tapering square section or slender baluster form. In semi

circular tables decorative stretchers might be added.

A delicate and more feminine manner is found in the gilt sideboard in Osterely Park and aa marked tendency towards lightness and elegance seen in the pier tables at Nostell Priory

and in the side tables at Syon house between 1769 and 1771.

Nearly all these tables have scagliola tops either in geometrical designs or decorated withhusks or bell flowers medallions paterae grotesques etc. They represent Adams furniture

in the most Mature phase.

From 1780 painted furniture became popular especially with design in the Etruscantaste. The famous Etruscan room at Osterley park being criticized by Walpole as an anti

climax to his previous work.

Osterley park is known for a pair of Adams commodes dated 1773 they are of bold semi-

circular form veneered with harewood and satinwood and inlaid with circular and ovalmedallions containing figures of Venus and Cupid Diana and her hounds and nymphs.

The sideboard unit was one of the most significant contribution of Adam to furniture

design. This consisted of an elaborate group consisting of along table flanked by urns or

pedestals with a wine cooler underneath.It was considered appropriate for such acomposition in a dining room as Adam believed that political decisions were made at the

dining table.Another item that Adam conceived as part of the wall decoration of the room was the

bookcase. This developed into a structure let into the wall with open shelves above and

doors below. Adam designed three kinds of mirrors.


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Upto 1768 he favoured the upright picture frame shape consisting of broad flat moulding

with stylized foliage and classical ornament.

During the 1770s cresting with sphinxes beautiful female figures supporting an urnOr medallion seen at Saltram House, Osterley Park.

A third type was the oval mirror .Sometimes the frame was broad and flat but it was

frequently surrounded by festoons.

Console tables were frequently matched with mirror, decorative motifs on the frame

would match those on frieze and legs of the table.George Hepplewhite

In 1788 The Cabinet makers and Upholsters Guide was published two years after the

death of George hepplewhite by his wife.Certain types of furniture are especially associated with the name Hepplewhite. First his

chairswith their oval, shield and heart shaped backs.The influence of Adam is seen in

the shaping of backsplats as urns or vases festoons wheat ears and the popular prince of

Wales feathers which was either carved or painted. The legs of Hepplewhites chairs arestraight and tapering, either round or square and with leaf ornament.

Sofas were especially delicate in structure. The seats were deeper from back to front andthe legs were of slender baluster form. The French type confidante and duchesse were

also popular. Hepplewhite featured a new type of sideboard combining Adams table and

pedestals in one piece.

The pedestal cupboards contained a wine cellaret on one side and, and on the other,which was covered with sheet-iron a rack for plates and a spirit lamp for heating them.

The secretaire cabinet was another piece where the base is like a chest of drawers with

the front of the top drawer opening downwards to form a writing surface. The upper stage


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has glazed doors, the glazing frames embodying either Classical vase like shapes ,gothic

tracery, geometrical shapes of diamonds octagons .The tops of such pieces were often

shaped as pediments with vases or urns as ornaments.Card tables , Pembroke tables were all part of his repertoire of furniture.

The full range of bedroom and dressing room furniture is illustrated in his book. The

distinctive Hepplewhite chest of drawers with the bow or serpentine front. Tallboys weredouble chests the top having a cornice moulding.

Dressing tables for men and women were designed as deep tables with several drawers

and having a top hinged at the sides and divided in the middle so as to open revealinginside receptacles for toilet articles.

A distinctive feauture of the Hepplewhite period is the persistence of Rococo elements

seen in the curvedarms backrails etc.

Thomas Sheraton(1751-1806)

Thomas Sheraton was the last of the line of great cabinet makers who gave their name to

the styles of the Georgian era.

Hepplewhite and Thomas Shearer had influenced the designs of commodes, cabinets andtables but Sheratons chairs it must be noted was definitely original in his design of

chairs. His square back chairsmark the radical the spirit of the 1780s to the 1790s.As


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well as vase ,leaf and drapery motifs in chair backs, he illustrated newlattice and lozenge

designs, deriving from France all with a vertical emphasis.

Flowing serpentine are replaced by rectangular forms-banana and kidney shapes aresuggested and elaborate classical marquetry gives way to geometrical banded borders and

bold oval and lozenge insets in contrasting woods.

A vertical element is lent to chest of drawers and commodes by the inclusion of slender

colonette uprights which break into the frieze area. In chair designs the front leg soars


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upward into the chair arm support in an unbroken line. Spinning top feet were another

favourite of Sheratons.

georgian england

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