Victorian Furniture - Neoclassicism continues

Classical sources continued to provide inspiration throughout the period, although when compared with the work of earlier craftsmen who followed the source material more closely, the line became more indistinct as the period advanced. Most of the great English designers worked in the idiom and many of the design books that appeared in such profusion include pieces in the style. It was however a rather debased form of classical, for the line changed from being relatively severe to being enriched by a considerable amount of ornamentation and having more flowing lines than the original. This evolution was of course in line with the desire of the middle class for handmade furniture which was a visual statement, not merely of their affluence - which was in any case proved by their ability to purchase in the first place - but also of their permanence and status as settled and solid members of society. The style was most commonly used where a great display of opulence was not required, as in the rooms of the Reform Club, furnished by Holland and Sons in 1838. It continued to appear in catalogues throughout the century, but lost much of its popularity after the 1860s.

Since the style was a reflection of past glories, it was naturally revived in France during the Second Empire. The manner varied somewhat from the English, being rather more fussy, with a greater amount of surface ornamentation and the addition of motifs borrowed from the Louis styles. It was largely an anonymous, decorators' fashion, having little following among the more serious and noted designers.

One of the most spectacular of the Neoclassical rooms anywhere was executed in Italy. Designed by Pelagio Palagi for the Castello Reale di Raconigi, near Turin, it was based fairly closely on an Etruscan theme, with rich gilding, painted friezes and wall panels, a mosaic floor and exquisite marquetry fitted and non fitted furniture, and compares extremely well with the work of the earlier masters. Some pieces from the room were exhibited at the Great Exhibition, where they were received with overwhelming praise.

It was a style that travelled well, for it was popular on both sides of the Atlantic, many of the best known of the Victorian cabinet-makers in America working in the idiom. One of the reasons for its success may well have been that with its large flat surfaces and minimal carving it was possible to mechanise production to a large extent. The Americans made some idiosyncratic contributions to the vocabulary of the style, including a decorative process whereby the flat surfaces could be stencilled with gold, a practice that seems not to have been followed elsewhere.

Designers of the period were continually searching for new sources, whether in other times or in other cultures, and expressing, it may be thought, a dissatisfaction with their own. It was not uncommon to find in middle class houses that individual rooms were furnished in totally differing styles. Indeed, certain conventions arose as to which styles were suitable for men and which for women. Neo-Rococo for example, with its gracefully fluid lines, was felt to be best suited to the use of ladies and was therefore found particularly in drawing rooms and boudoirs, where their influence was either strongest or total. Gothic, which was felt to be a masculine style would have been used for the library, while 'Elizabethan' which was neutral was considered appropriate for the dining room. Billiard rooms, smoking rooms and bathrooms, which were downright outlandish, might well be Moorish, but the bedrooms, which were again neutral, were commonly Neoclassical.