Marble muscles ripple—the stone carver’s feat charismatic in its unselfconsciousness. Crystals dangle, their effervescence gleaming for centuries as blown baubles from the past. Mother-of-pearl inlay…
View More Ateliers of EuropeTag: decorating history
There are so many pivotal figures that span decorating history who deserve attention. I count influencers spanning back into the mists of time who left decorative legacies.
You might be surprised that I include Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII in this group but one look at my diary entry Decorating Hampton Court Palace and you’ll see how the decorative elements in the castle deserve the nod. Decorative elements like eavesdroppers ornamenting the ceiling beams in the Great Hall and the tapestries hanging along the walls are colorful additions to the massive room. The castle contains the largest surviving Renaissance kitchens in Europe, and the intricacy of the vaulted ceiling in the Chapel Royal was installed by Henry VIII in 1535-6.
The chapel has been in continuous use for 450 years! And for those of you who have a sweet tooth, there is a Chocolate Room decorated with ceramics, copper cooking equipment, bespoke chocolate serving silverware and period glassware and linens. This is but one of the visionaries of the past who has impacted decorating history on my blog so stop by if you’d like to find out who else has caught my eye.
The Hotel de la Marine Restored
In his foreword to The French Royal Wardrobe: The Hotel de la Marine Restored, Philippe Bélaval, the President of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, illustrates how painstaking…
View More The Hotel de la Marine RestoredThe Fabric of Design
In their introduction to The Decoration of Houses, Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr., write, “In the middle ages, when warfare and brigandage shaped the…
View More The Fabric of DesignMadame Récamier and the Art of Reclining
Jeanne-Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard, known after her marriage as Juliette Récamier, was born on December 4, 1777—240 years ago yesterday. Had she lived during modern…
View More Madame Récamier and the Art of RecliningMy Porcelain Bucket List
When I am planning literary design adventures, I look for experiences that give me the feeling of transcendence—encounters during which I am conscious of having…
View More My Porcelain Bucket ListA Conversation on Trends in Textiles
I’m thrilled to announce that I am producing the first in my Modern Salonnière series of events during High Point Market next month. With this…
View More A Conversation on Trends in TextilesHenry VIII’s Cult of Cloth
A trip to Frankfurt to attend Heimtextil a week from today has inspired me to share one of my favorite anecdotes about Henry VIII and…
View More Henry VIII’s Cult of ClothTransitory Spaces
The beginning of one of Napoléon Bonaparte’s earliest letters to Joséphine de Beauharnais simply oozes sensuality: “Seven in the morning. I awaken full of you…the…
View More Transitory SpacesPeggy Guggenheim Visits Oculus Gallery
In 2009, I trekked to Venice with my dear friend JoAnn Locktov, the founder of Bella Figura Publications whose newest book Dream of Venice Architecture…
View More Peggy Guggenheim Visits Oculus GalleryHeaven Shall Be Here
In the film A Little Chaos, Alan Rickman, who plays an unlikely Louis XIV, declares, “Heaven shall be here.” He’s speaking of a ballroom he…
View More Heaven Shall Be Here