Neo-classical Architecture and Interior designs of Robert Adam and A History of Furniture Timeline.

It is important to briefly highlight the important periods in the history of English furniture to understand how English cabinet making evolved and how interior styles changed over the centuries. I do not intend to post blog enteries about the chronological history of furniture and interior design but here is brief timeline in a nutshell. It will give you a sense of what kind of furniture was made during the various reigns in the British monarchy. 

Age of the Oak

• Elizabeth I - Elizabethan: 1558-1603
• James I - Jacobean: 1605-1625
• Cromwellian / Commonwealth period: 1649-1660

Age of Walnut

• Charles II- 1660-1685 – The Restoration
• James II- 1685-1689

17th century Baroque

·      William and Mary 1689 -1694

Some of the tallest pieces of furniture were made during the reign of William and Mary.

A Very Fine William and Mary High Backed caned walnut chair with cabriole legs, late 17^th Century.

18^th century:

·      Queen Anne 1702-1714

GEORGIAN PERIOD

Early Georgian

·      George I: 1714-1727 - Gothick Revival/ Rococo

·      George II: 1727-1760 – Age of Mahogany

Late Georgian: Neo-classical style/ Renaissance Revival, 1850-1880 under Robert Adam.                                                   

• George III: 1760-1811- popularity of Satinwood and Rosewood

Regency - Empire (Classical/Greek Revival), 1805-1830

• George III: 1812-1820

• George IV: 1820-1830
  
  
  
  • William IV: 1830-1837
  
  
  ·      Victorian – 1837-1901 – Gothick Revival
  
  
  The 19^th and the early 20^th century witnessed a concoction of styles and some movements such as:
  
  
  •           Arts and Crafts 1895-1915
  •           Art Nouveau, 1896-1914
  •           Art Deco, 1920-1945
  
  
  ·      Edward IV – 1901-1910 - Edwardian period 
  
  
  
  
  Some fine examples of the work of the most distinguished cabinet makers in the history of English furniture:
  
  
  CHIPPENDALE
  
  
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  An early George III mahogany armchair, circa 1760, after a design by Thomas Chippendale
  
  
  
  
  HEPPLEWHITE
  
  
  A pair of mahogany open armchairs of Hepplewhite style, early 20th century
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  SHERATON
  
  
  Parlor Chairs by Thomas Sheraton
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  WILLIAM KENT
  Design for a side table for Houghton Hall, Norfolk, by William Kent
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This post is closely connected to the last entry I posed on Gerogian Dublin. It is on the Neo-classical interior and furniture designs of Robert Adam. It is one of my favourite decorative schemes and the topic on which I wrote my Diploma dissertation; thus the following composition is a résumé of the research I did for the paper.
  
  
  The Neoclassical movement was a reaction against the Rococo or Late Baroque style and style deriving from the architecture of Ancient Greece and Rome and inspired by the rediscoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The most common ornamental features and motifs of Neoclassicism are: figures of Ancient Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, urns, perfume burners, vases, swags and festoons of garlands, Putti, colonnades, sphinxes and with architectural facades ornamented with pillars of one of the three classical orders, Doric, Ionic or the most embellished of them all, the Corinthian order.  I love the smoothness of the Diocletian or Venetian windows typical of this style and the overall femininity of the neoclassical architectural and interior decorative style. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Robert Adam (1728-1792) was a Scottish Neo-classical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was one of the most eminent architects of his era and was a leader pf the first phase of the classical revival in England in Scotland from around 1760 until his death. He was the main force in the development of a unified style that extended beyond architecture and interiors to include both the fixed and moveable objects in a room. He played a major role in introducing Neo-classicism to Britain, having studied ancient and Renaissance art and architecture whilst in Italy on the Grand Tour. British artists, architects and members of nobility or the Dilettanti as they were known in Italian, travelled to Rome and Pompeii where they bought back artefacts and sculptures either found on an archaeological site or commissioned by notable Italian sculptors to furnish their newly restored and redecorated neo-classical houses, a style that became very fashionable through the 18^th century so much so, that many style guides were published to advise people on how to furnish their houses. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Adam’s enormous repertoire of classical motifs which he altered and varied with every use, included: Etruscan vases and other objects of antiquity, cornucopiae, formal arabesque foliage decoration, scrolls of foliage, half patera, putti, female figures and busts, perfume burners, swags and garlands, oval medallions, human masks and female heads seated ladies on chariots, sarcophagi wine coolers, crests, sphinxes, mythical creatures, rusks of wheat, winged griffons, rams’ heads and figures from Greek and Roman mythology. The extensive list of motifs is essential for an understanding of Robert Adam’s interiors. He constantly experimented with the combination of these antique ornaments. This vocabulary is not exclusive to Adam; many other artists who had visited Rome and Pompeii had adopted such motifs. However, no designer employed so many of them with such consistency and originality. It was the way in which he had adopted them and his handling of these ornaments and patterns that was different and that characterizes the ‘Adam style’. 
  
  
  
  
  
  Adam collaborated with many skilled cabinet-makers like John Linnell (at Kedleston, Lansdowne House and Osterley Park House) and Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) for the production of his furniture designs for important commissions (at Harewood and Nostell Priory). He was confident in Chippendale’s ability to make exquisite furniture and furnishings for the interiors of his finest rooms. Adam used a lot of painted ornamentation in his later work thus depending less on cabinet makers like Linnell and Chippendale. He depended more on artists such as Antonio Zucchi and his wife Angelica Kauffmann to paint classical figurative scenes within cartouches set into the interior walls and ceilings. Adam’s work is more refined and delicate in his later work. And his furniture is farther reduced and more refined. Marquetry is extremely rare in his work. Instead, ornaments are either painted directly onto the coloured or gilded surface, or executed in metal or composition, and overlaid. Colour plays a major part in Adam’s mature work, he was especially known for his beautiful low relief plaster decoration against a brightly coloured painted wall. This is probably the most appealing aspect of his design. There have been many revivals of the ‘Adam Style’ from 1862 to the present day and many of his designs have been imitated and copied over the years without attempts to understand the true principles of Antiquity. Robert Adam is one of the greatest and most celebrated of British architects. He has become the father of the ‘antique’ revival and the source of the French Louis XVI style.
  
  
  
  
  
  Detail from a ceiling design for 5 Adelphi Terrace, by Robert Adam, England, circa 1771.
  
  
   Lot 150
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A late Victorian satinwood, tulipwood, harewood, sycamore and polychrome decorated marquetry demi-lune commode in the George III style after a design by Robert Adam
  
  
  £20,000 - 30,000
  €24,000 - 36,000
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bonhams
  
  
  Fine English Furniture London, New Bond Street
  
  
  20 Nov 2013
  
  
  Auction 20743
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The next time you are walking in Dublin city centre or Central London pay close attention to some of the architecture around, you will see how the buildings either date from the 18^th century or are in the Neo-classical style. The Custom House and the City Hall (originally the Royal Exchange), in Dublin are good examples of Renaissance architecture. It was built between 1769 and 1779 to the designs of architect Thomas Cooley and is a notable example of 18th-century architecture in the city. I hope that you found my first blog informative and although not many people are decorating their homes in the style of Robert Adam anymore, perhaps you can now take some elements of Robert Adam’s interior decorative and incorporate them into your rooms or pick up a piece of furniture at auction or in O’ Sullivan’s Antiques on Francis Street in Dublin (one of the finest Antique shops, albeit a bit expensive, in Dublin) with some of the feminine and elegant elements of Neo-classism.
  
  
  
  
  THE CUSTOM HOUSE, DUBLIN