E-7: English Drawing Room of the Early Georgian Period, 1730s

Narcissa Niblack Thorne, creator of the Thorne Rooms, combined a deep knowledge of design history with a vivid imaginative sensibility. In the 1930s, she assembled a team of skilled artisans in Chicago to construct a series of intricately detailed interiors at the scale of one inch to one foot (1:12). Conceived as a visual history of interior design, the rooms are at once scholarly and inventive. Meticulously researched and carefully composed, they balance historical accuracy with artistic interpretation. Each atmospheric interior feels like a stage set awaiting its occupants—two parts fantasy, one part history, and entirely absorbing. Entry from Fannia Weingartner, Miniature Rooms: The Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2nd ed. (The Art Institute of Chicago, 2004): 7: English Drawing Room of the Early Georgian Period, 1730sThis interior was inspired in part by a room that had been removed from a London residence, No. 26 Hatton Gardens, and installed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Although the original was the work of James Gibbs, Mrs. Thorne also incorporated elements from the designs of William Kent—especially in the mantel. Both Gibbs and Kent helped restore in England the popularity of the Palladian and Italian Baroque influences that had characterized the work of Inigo Jones. The advocates of the Palladian revival were patrons and artists who had benefited from the grand tour of the European continent—culminating in a visit to Italy—which by the early eighteenth century had become a part of the education of the English upper class. The impact of the Palladian revival can be seen in this room in the heavy pedimentation above the fireplace overmantel, doors, and bookcases; and in the marble-topped consoles with their carved eagle supports. These tables and the richly framed mirrors hanging above them replicate examples designed by Kent.Typical too of this style is the use of niches, here filled with a variety of objects, including ivory painted to resemble porcelain and jade imported from China. On the mantel, a arnelian carving is flanked by jade vases. The Asian theme is carried out in the coromandel lacquer screen, “made by one of the cleverest craftsmen in . . . China by the same process as the old screens.” The miniature red and white ivory chessmen set out on the table to the right of the desk, however, was made, according to Mrs. Thorne, “by a very big Englishman with proportionately large hands.” The silver tea service on the table by the wing chair was commissioned as well expressly for this setting.The rug was presented to Mrs. Thorne by members of the Textile and Needlework Guild of Chicago, the design having been reduced from a Georgian pattern. She referred to it as one of her most cherished possessions. A guild member also executed the needlework upholstery on the chairs flanking the doorway and the desk chair. By the window at the back right stands a functioning architect’s table, which here serves as an easel. A small print has been placed on it to give the appearance of a painting in progress. The paintbrushes are colored needles touched with thick white paint. Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait of Mrs. “Perdita” Robinson over the mantel is in the Wallace Collection, London. The view from the window is meant to be Old Regent Street.This room measures 20 x 31 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches.