Day 374 - Rococo Revival room

 

My first reaction on seeing gallery 739 was, "Yet another dark period room." I later asked a guard whom I heard commenting to another visitor about the need for a flashlight  why the rooms are so dark. Her first response: "To show how they were back then." But this can't be completely true, since many rooms had large windows, albeit these are sometimes shrouded in deep crimson curtains. I think it has more to do with the absence of backlighting behind the windows in most of the rooms and the difficulty of retrofitting the spaces.

In any case, this room, formally called "The Richard and Gloria Manney [again] John Henry Belter Rococo Revival Parlor," is intended  to  illustrate how a parlor in the home of an affluent family might have looked in the mid-1850s. A number of the architectural elements actually come from a mansion built around 1850 in Astoria, Queens for a wealthy fur and hat merchant.  It's interesting to think of Astoria as a highly desirable neighborhood for wealthy WASPS rather than as the ethnic enclave it is today.

The furnishings in the room illustrate the "Rococo Revival" style, which emerged in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century and was loosely based on furnishings from the Louis XV period. We think of the rococo style as defined by ornateness and curving lines, and the tables, chairs, and settees in this room, created by a New York cabinetmaker, John Henry Belter, all fit that bill. The wooden frames are elaborately carved with curving scroll and vegetal forms.  Equally ornate is the marble fireplace topped by a gilded mirror. 

The decorative elements I notice first, though, are the fringe-like crystals hanging from candelabras framing the mantelpiece and a lamp on the round table in the center of the room, and the four grisaille (? - hard to see!) paintings set in oval frames. I don't recognize the places depicted in the paintings (or perhaps they are fantasy locales), but the scenes are clearly European.  Again, it's interesting to see how Americans sought to show their sophistication and wealth through references to European culture.