Seventeenth-Century Interior Decoration in England, France, and Holland

This is the first book to survey and analyze the development of European interior decoration in France, England, and Holland following the stimulus of the Italian Renaissance while relating it to the changes in the political structure and social habits of the landed classes at the end of the sixteenth century.

Working from surviving examples of the furniture and decoration of the period, and making full use of engraved and painted records, inventories, and other documentary evidence, Peter Thornton investigates and explains the role and intentions of the architect, the upholsterer, and the furniture-maker in the creation of the fashionable interior. He emphasizes that during the seventeenth century it was often through the personal supervision of the interior decoration of a great house by its owner that a hitherto unknown degree of comfort and unity of design came to prevail. The arrangement and decoration of the rooms, their furnishings and hangings, panelling and carpeting, lighting and sanitation are all discussed in detail with due attention being given to the designers and craftsmen concerned and the materials and techniques used.