Week 1Victorian Revivalism:

Neoclassicism vs Gothic Revival

The History of Interior Design 2INT262

Victorian Revivalism - Contextc.1837 - 1901

- Queen Victoria reigns 1837-1901

- Period of industrialisation and commercial expansion

- Empire generates further wealth: materials are imported from colonies; goods are exported to them

- Population growth in Britain: from 18.5m in 1841 to 37m in 1901 (over 6m in London)

- Transportation (roads, canals and, more revolutionary, railways)

- All this creates unprecedented wealth for industrial and merchant classes (taking power away from church, state & aristocracy = new tastes)

Victorian Revivalismc.1837 - 1901

- Why Stylistic Variety? (Revivalism)

- Revised view of history: each civilisation should be judged on its own merits by its own criteria

- Challenging the notion of Classical authority (or any authority?)

- The aesthetic of the Picturesque and Sublime (moving away from classically ʻcorrectʼ rules of beauty to the appreciation of irregularity and the unexpected)

- Variety of styles itself a source of delight

- Styles follow each other and change quicker than ever before

Parthenon, Athens, Greece (431 B.C.)

Pantheon, Rome, Italy (126 AD)

Interior: Pantheon, Rome, Italy (126 AD)

British Museum (established 1753, present location opened 1857)Robert Smirke

John Soane’s Museum (1792 - 1824)John Soane

Refined NeoclassicismJohn Soane’s Museum (1792 - 1824)John Soane

Bank of England Rotunda (1788 - 1833)John Soane

Bank of England (1788 - 1833)John Soane

Romanticism and the Picturesque

-Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757)

-Worship of nature

-A more rugged picture

Italian Coastal Landscape (1642)Claude LorraineOil on canvas

Engravings by William Gilpin

Victorian Revivalismc.1837 - 1901

Picturesque or Ornamental Gothic

An emotional or romantic response to the Gothick (relating to the Dark Ages)

Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill, Twickenham (from 1747)Horace Walpole et al.

Victorian Revivalismc.1837 - 1901

Structural Gothic

A.W.N. Pugin and the Revival of ancient practice and construction

- From 1830s onwards the Gothic becomes the most powerful alternative to the Classical styles

- Thought by many to be a ‘national’ style

- Growing amount of philosophy and theory to support the importance of the Gothic.

- Role of John Ruskin and A.W.N. Pugin

John Ruskin (1819-1900)

A.W.N. Pugin (1812-52)

Salisbury Cathedral, 12th century

Contrasts (1836)A.W.N. Pugin

What is being shown here?

What is being contrasted here?

Contrasts (1836)A.W.N. Pugin

New Westminster Palace (Houses of Paliament), 1844-1852Charles Barry (exterior) and A.W.N. Pugin (interior)

Peers’ LobbyA.W.N. Pugin

House of LordsA.W.N. Pugin

House of LordsA.W.N. Pugin

Sovereign’s ThroneA.W.N. Pugin

Handrail detailA.W.N. Pugin

House of CommonsA.W.N. Pugin

House of Commons, Rebuilt 1941Giles Gilbert Scott

Undercroft ChapelA.W.N. Pugin

Westminster Hall (1097)

St. Stephen’s HallA.W.N. Pugin

All Saints, Margaret Street (1849 - 59)William Butterfield

Oxford University Museum (1858)Deane & WoodwardInfluenced by John Ruskin. What style is this?

Oxford University MuseumDeane & Woodward, 1858

How is this different to Pugin’s interiors?

Why would this image be important to those like Ruskin and Pugin?

What is the relevance of this detail?

Reflective questions:

- Do you prefer classical or gothic? Neither?! Explain.- What is your opinion on Gothic Revivalism?

- Do you think architecture and design can improve our moral standards/behaviour? Why do you think Pugin and Ruskin believed this?

- Why do you think designers looked to the past for inspiration throughout the 19th century?

- Do we have ‘national’ styles today? Why did the Victorians want a national style?