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Design for a rococo ceiling

Architectural Design
1842 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This scheme for a Rococo ceiling is based on an 18th century design. It is a modified tracing from an engraved pattern book by J. F. Cuvilliés (1695-1768), which was first published in 1738. To many people in the 1840s, the revived Rococo style suggested grandeur and opulence. It seemed essentially French. (People then considered the French to be the style leaders of Europe.) Various Rococo pattern books were republished in the 1830s, and many rooms were decorated in conscious re-creations of the style.

John Gregory Crace worked extensively for the 6th Duke of Devonshire at Devonshire House, London, and Chatsworth, designing a wide range of decorative schemes and furniture. He is also well known for his collaboration with A.W.N. Pugin, with whom he worked on the decoration of the new Palace of Westminster, and the medieval court at the Crystal Palace.

The Crace family were the most important firm of interior decorators working in the 19th century. They worked for every British monarch from George III to Queen Victoria and on a range of buildings that includes royal palaces, Leeds Town Hall and the Great Exhibition building of 1862.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleDesign for a rococo ceiling (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Pencil
Brief description
Design for a rococo ceiling
Physical description
Pencil drawing on paper
Dimensions
  • Height: 38.5cm
  • Width: 30.4cm
Styles
Credit line
Given by Mrs Eileen Crace
Subject depicted
Summary
This scheme for a Rococo ceiling is based on an 18th century design. It is a modified tracing from an engraved pattern book by J. F. Cuvilliés (1695-1768), which was first published in 1738. To many people in the 1840s, the revived Rococo style suggested grandeur and opulence. It seemed essentially French. (People then considered the French to be the style leaders of Europe.) Various Rococo pattern books were republished in the 1830s, and many rooms were decorated in conscious re-creations of the style.

John Gregory Crace worked extensively for the 6th Duke of Devonshire at Devonshire House, London, and Chatsworth, designing a wide range of decorative schemes and furniture. He is also well known for his collaboration with A.W.N. Pugin, with whom he worked on the decoration of the new Palace of Westminster, and the medieval court at the Crystal Palace.

The Crace family were the most important firm of interior decorators working in the 19th century. They worked for every British monarch from George III to Queen Victoria and on a range of buildings that includes royal palaces, Leeds Town Hall and the Great Exhibition building of 1862.
Bibliographic reference
Megan Aldrich, The Craces: royal decorators 1768-1899, London, Murray, 1990.
Collection
Accession number
E.829-1981

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Record createdFebruary 13, 2003
Record URL
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