While in England I was fortunate to be there for a very special exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. We got up early and went up to London on the train. a great way to travel I might add. And the V & A does a lovely lunch too.
Thomas Hope pictured here in Turkish Costume helped define the Regency style. He was fascinated with classical purity. A son of a rich banker, he went on the Grand Tour and was much taken with the architecture and the arts of the Ottoman Empire.
On his return, his family having moved to London to escape the French, he set out to improve modern design. He opened his house in Duchess Street, off Portland Place, with a view transforming modern British taste. Very kind of him, I'm sure, being a Dutchman! The Prince of Wales attended the opening. Hope then issued tickets to the house in 1804 to members of the Royal Academy and other notables in society, artists, scholars and designers.
The styles he employed included Egyptian Greek, Roman and Indian as well as a version of French Empire. It really is quite a mismash and is all rather heavy looking, but fascinating.
The house was divided into rooms, to display furniture, sculptures and vases. this is one of the vase rooms, a popular addition to many homes in the era. The Egyptian Room displayed Hope's belief that the ancient Egyptians were the origin of western culture. The walls were of pale yellow and bluish green relieved by masses of black and gold. There is heavy black and gold settee with arms carved with sphinx for example.
The Aurora Room contained a statue of the Aurora, Goddes of Dawn surrounded by mirrors and scarlet curtains, so the statue could be viewed from all sides at once. it is really quite lovely.
He created his own designs in a book called Household Furniture and Interior Decoration in 1807 and provided measurements to help furniture makers make their own copies. This is the first time the words "interior decoration" were used. Sounds far more moderns that that, wouldn't you say. Some of the furniture is almost art deco in appearance.
Much of his furniture from this period can be found at Deepdene, the country estate he bought in Dorking in Surrey. The exhibition shows how this originally red brick Georgian mansion was adapted to blend into its irregular landscape.If you get a chance to visit, I am sure you will be delighted with this exhibition. I am definitely going to try to visit Deepdene when I am next in England. And I have ordered Hope's book, so I am sure I will be sharing some more of it with you.
I leave you with a picture of his wife, wearing what Hope saw as the quintessential attire for woman, it is of course the Regency gown.Until next time, happy rambles.
It's always fun to see the way history influences current fashions. The Regency was influenced by their fascination with the classical world while some fashion right now is inspired by "The Tudors".
ReplyDeleteToo true, Georgie. We had a whole thing going on a year or so ago after the Marie Antoinette film too.
ReplyDeleteMichele
Hello, Michele Ann Young! I, too, have family in England. Just returned from 16 days there, and I saw the Thomas Hope exhibit at the V&A with my grand-daughter, Zoe.
ReplyDeleteIt was indeed interesting to see this small but admirable show. I had a bit of fun with Thomas Hope's interior decoration (and was fascinated to know, thanks to this exhibit, that he invented that term!) in my second Regency novel, Seducing Mr. Heywood :-) Five Star was the original publisher; it was published in mass-market by NAL. Check it out. My last book was the biography of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, My Lady Scandalous.
My e-mail address is drmwk2@juno.com
Cheers, Jo Manning
Jo, great to see you here.
ReplyDeleteIt was so cool to see things as they were in this exhibit, and so relevant to my research too. It was hard to take it all in.
I would love to go again.
I will certainly check out your book. Five Star is a good publisher. After all, they did one of mine too!
Michele