Suite of drawing room furniture
(c. 1799)
Medium
gilt-beech wood, Aubusson tapestry, other materials
Measurements
91.5 × 58.0 × 65.0 cm (armchair) (each) 91.0 × 220.0 × 80.0 cm (settee) (each)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of the Countess of Stradbroke through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2016
Gallery location
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
James Wyatt was the leading Neoclassical architect and designer in Britain at the end of the eighteenth century. A fierce rival of Robert Adam, the other leading architect of the day, Wyatt was regarded as the model of a properly trained architect. He played a key role in establishing Neoclassicism as the mainstream English style in the last thirty years of the eighteenth century, with his influence evident in both his architecture and decorative arts designs.
In 1790 Wyatt was commissioned to design a new house at Henham Park, Suffolk, by the Sixth Baronet, the Right Honourable John Rous, whose full-length portrait, along with that of his wife, also hangs in the Gallery. Wyatt is known to have designed the principal interiors of all his houses. This suite would have been intended for the drawing room or saloon – both highly elegant interiors used for entertaining, with the furniture arranged around the perimeter of the room. The suite reflects the Neoclassical style of the late eighteenth century and references French Louis XVI taste. Nevertheless, the current iteration of the suite dates to the 1860s when it received a complete makeover, probably due to a fire in the house.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
London, England
Accession Number
2016.385
Department
International Decorative Arts