A Celebration Of Industry ¦ The Victorian Era ¦ Part One.

[jones jones]

After the excesses of the Regency, the Victorians saw themselves as pious and God fearing ... prosperity had been generated by factories, mines and banks and this filtered down to a growing middle class. Casting aside the previous era’s pedantic classicism now but not wanting to appear upstarts and lacking judgement in taste, they opted for existing styles. So mass production and with it price-cutting sprang into being, which meant that a middle class home had more furnishings than ever before.

Because of a rapidly growing population, comfort for most counted for far more than elegance. The middle class concentrated on the family circle and homes were therefore for family life and not for entertaining. Materials included the continuing use of mahogany, which to the early Victorians was the dining room wood with rosewood for the drawing room. These were later replaced with oak for the dining room and walnut for the drawing room. Cast and wrought iron became acceptable as did paper mache combined with black japanning inlaid with glinting mother of pearl

Seating was upholstered and comfortable with sofas, easy chairs and ottomans fully sprung and padded. Straight lines were banished so mirrors, chandeliers, wall sconces, marble fireplaces, ormulu and bone china candlesticks and draped pelmets had no straight lines. Daylight was softened by muslin sub-curtains while at night the velvet curtains gave the privacy the Victorians desired. While oil lamps and gas lighting were now a common feature in town houses, the rooms were usually lit by candles as their soft light was kinder to ladies wearing makeup and was of course much more romantic.

During the mid-Victorian period the theme was more sombre with red flock wallpaper, heavy curtains and table covers trimmed with braids and fringes. Thick upholstered seating became the norm and mantelpiece, tables and display shelves were a mass of knick-knacks and bric a brac.

Consumers could now find out about the available goods from retail outlets, catalogues and numerous trade fairs. In 1851 “The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry opened. A massive display was housed in a specially built glass and metal giant ¦ named by the magazine Punch “The Crystal Palace and 14000 exhibitors displayed their wares there. The focus of the exhibition was manufacturing and Britain was seen to be the leader in this field. In just over five months 1.6 million people saw the exhibition.

Cosy family life was the aim of all mid Victorians who demanded comfortable furniture, but now with a heavier look showing more wood. Drawing rooms were filled with easy chairs, ottomans, sofas, settees, pouffes and footstools. In the dining room heavy furniture was practical and popular. Sturdy tables now accommodated the family for five course meals or more and more robust chairs were now required to survive such lengthy meals. Ways of serving the meals changed. In the past the carving had been done on the table proper, which required that the tablecloth be removed even before the dessert was served. Now this task was performed on a side or “serving table and the Damask cloth remained reasonable clean. As a result the table was now “dressed up before meals with silver menu and place cards and posy vases before each person as well as finger bowls on fancy doyleys.

Walls continued to be papered and hung with gilt frame pictures and mirrors while ornaments and knick-knacks were set on every available surface, many made by the female family members as idleness was considered a sin. Wax flowers, fruit, feather and shell arrangements under glass were on display as well as painted vases while embroidered covers were made for stools and boxes.

The entrance hall had arched marbled columns, a huge fireplace and sometimes a tiger skin on the floor. Hunting trophies adorned the walls and a brass mosque lantern hung from the ceiling ¦



To be continued ...