The Renaissance Revival Parlor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 2009

The Renaissance Revival Parlor, 1868-70 (Meriden, Connecticut)

The Renaissance Revival Parlor originated on the handsome estate of Jedediah Wilcox, built between 1868 and 1870. Valued at the time at the significant sum of $125,000, the house was constructed in the Second Empire style, which was thought to indicate affluence and authority, as well as a cosmopolitan outlook. The Wilcox house was slated for demolition in 1968, and the Museum was able to acquire the front parlor, the rear parlor, and the formal front hall, including the magnificent staircase, as well as the rear parlor's suite of furniture. Together they represent the first known instance of a nineteenth-century American designer, Augustus Truesdell, overseeing and maintaining a consistent idea throughout every aspect of a home's decoration.

This installation re-creates the rear parlor, complete with an elegant suite of furniture and a matching over mantel mirror, window cornices, lighting fixtures, and marble mantel. While today this style is generally called Renaissance Revival, the furniture makers of its day believed they were following French models and reinterpreting designs fashionable during the reign of Louis XVI. The room's beautifully painted ceiling features rosettes with trompe-l'oeil floral bouquets, all accurately copied from the original parlor. The dramatic twelve-armed chandelier, produced by New York City lighting firm Mitchell, Vance, and Company, picks up aspects of the design motifs found throughout the room.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/american_decorative_arts/p...