Nostell Priory. © The National Trust 2003-05
Nostell Priory is a Palladian house in Nostell, West Yorkshire, built on the site of a medieval priory. The estate was purchased by the Winn family in the 1650’s and that family has lived there ever since construction began on the present building in 1733, to a design based on Palladio’s Villa Mocenigo. The house retains extensive work by the celebrated architects and designers James Paine and Robert Adam, with decorative painting by A. Zucchi and a collection of furniture by Thomas Chippendale.
The Nostell Priory breakfront side cabinets designed by Thomas Ward. Carlton Hobbs LLC.
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Highly unusual lyre-back armchair. English, circa 1795. Carlton Hobbs LLC.
The use of the form of the ancient lyre in the square back of a chair was an innovation of the first phase of post-Rococo Neo-Classicism in the second part of the Eighteenth Century. The lyre itself was derived from depictions of the instrument in Greek and Roman vases; these vases were central to the revival of interest in the antique that exercised a profound influence on the development of the decorative arts in the period.
Apollo Cup, circa 480-470 BCE; Delphi Museum, Greece.
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This set of eight large watercolors of World War I Airplanes was painted by Riccardo Caviglioli (1895 -1975), an Italian aviator and painter born in Milan. Caviglioli received multiple decorations during World War I, and during his lifetime worked as an aeronautical writer, designer and illustrator for advertising campaigns. Additionally, he wrote a book entitled Austrian-Hungary Aviation on the Italian Front between 1915 and 1918 published in 1930.
Caviglioli’s aviation watercolors were first presented at the Torino Exposition in 1928. His designs represent true historic reconstructions of a glorious past, and through his artistic style he was able to depict the impression of flight, glides, turns and takeoffs. Read more... (257 words, 8 images, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Last week we took a look at some English country houses that have played starring roles in period films. In this post we’re featuring three well-known historic American buildings that have made appearances on the silver screen.
In 1984, the New York Public Library (Humanities and Social Sciences Library) on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street experienced a brief haunting in the opening scene of Ghostbusters. Standing beside Bryant Park, the Library was designed by Carrère & Hastings in 1911, is one of the country’s finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture. The main reading room, below, is also shown.
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Thursday, February 18, 2010
What do Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire, Wrotham Park, in Middlesex, and Syon House in London all have in common?
Wrotham Park. ©2007 Wrotham Park.
Besides their majestic beauty, individual sections of these estates were compiled to create the fictional Gosford Park in the award winning film of the same name.
The cast of Gosford Park in the Wrotham Park saloon.
The English countryside has always been a popular hunting ground for historically accurate movie locations. Some of the more popular films being Pride and Prejudice (Basildon Park), The Remains of the Day (Dyrham Park), and The Hound of the Baskervilles (Knightshayes Court).
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The production of painted tiles in Valencia has continued in one form or another since the Middle Ages. The first known Valencian factory devoted solely to tilemaking opened in 1568. Full polychrome designs introduced by Castille artisans had revolutionized the Spanish tilemaking industry and inspired new subject matter and more elaborate compositions. Increased demand led several Valencian craftsmen to open tile factories, which at first were small, cramped workshops with a single kiln and a limited yield. However, by the middle of the eighteenth-century, at the height of the Spanish Rococo period, the city’s tile factories had become the foremost in Spain, and were receiving commissions ranging from kitchen panels in the homes of the wealthy nobility to interior decorations in the Royal Palace in Madrid. Read more... (578 words, 3 images, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
This painting of unusually large scale (at just over 14 feet long) depicts the entrance front of the great house of Denham Place, Buckinghamshire and has been attributed to the artist Peter Hartover. The painting, which can be dated on the grounds of stylistic comparison with other of Hartover’s works to around 1675, records the appearance of Denham Place after the addition of a vast façade by Sir William Bowyer (1612-79) in the 1650s and before its rebuilding by Sir Roger Hill from 1688.
- Oil painting depicting the front facade of Denham Place, Buckinghamshire attributed to Peter Hartover. Carlton Hobbs LLC.
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The design on which these remarkable mirrors are based was officially registered by the cabinet maker George Sims of 50-152 Aldersgate Street, London, in March 1878 and survives in the National Archives at Kew. Standing at just over 7 feet tall, the mirrors follow the design very closely, although they are given a stricter architectural quality by the decision to leave out the ornamental crest and swag on the drawing.
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Saturday, January 30, 2010
The Italian fashion for Eastern decoration, manifest in the present pair of mirrors, began with the expansion of trade with China, leading to intensified taste for chinoiserie throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Designers and architects to the courts created interiors that drew heavily on exotic styles based on the ceramics, furniture, and paintings imported from the East, and by the 18th century these items were being produced in a number of European centers.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Jean François Hache represents the fourth generation in a family of famed cabinetmakers from Grenoble, France, who worked throughout the end of the 17th century and the entirety of the 18th century. The dynasty began with Noël Hache (1630-1675), the son of a master baker who chose not to enter the family business, but rather studied veneering in the workshop of a Calais master. This northern region of France was directly influenced by the marquetry of Belgium and The Netherlands. Eventually, Noël set up his own workshop in Toulouse and, upon his death, it was taken over by his son Thomas. Thomas Hache then moved the atêlier to Grenoble. His only son, Pierre, worked with him as did his grandson, Jean-François. Read more... (392 words, 3 images, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)
