Georgian Gothic: Medievalist Architecture, Furniture and Interiors 1730-1840

284 Pages·2016·36.247 MB·English

by  Peter N. Lindfield

MEDIEVALISM
GEORGIAN
MEDIEVALISM
G
T E GOTHIC
he Gothic Revival, rich, ambitious, occasionally
eccentric, but nonetheless visually exciting, is one of O

Britain’s greatest contributions to early modern design
history, not least because for the most part it contravened R
approved taste: Classicism. Scholars have tended to treat
Medievalist Architecture,
G
Georgian Gothic as an homogenous and immature precursor
to ‘high’ Victorian Gothic, and centred their discussion around
I Furniture and Interiors
Walpole’s Strawberry Hill. This book, conversely, reveals how the
A
style was imaginatively and repeatedly revised and incorporated
1730--1840
into prevailing eighteenth-century fashions: Palladianism, N
Rococo, Neoclassicism, and antiquarianism. It shows how
under the control of architects, from Wren to Pugin, Walpole
G
and Cottingham, and furniture designs, especially those of
Chippendale, and Ince and Mayhew, a shared language of Gothic
O
motifs was applied to British architecture, furniture and interiors.
Georgian Britain was awash with Gothic forms, even if the
T
arbiters of taste criticised it vehemently. Throughout, the volume
reframes the Gothic Revival’s expression by connecting it with
H
Georgian understandings of the medieval past, and consequently
revises our interpretation of one of the most influential, yet
I
lampooned, forms of material culture at the time.
C

PETER N. LINDFIELD is a Leverhulme Early Career Research
Fellow at the University of Stirling.

Cover image: Jean-Henri Müntz, , P
View of Strawberry Hill, from the South, with Twickenham Beyond
c.1755–59, 62.25 x 74.95 cm. LWL Ptg. 139. Courtesy of The Lewis Walpole Library,
e
Yale University. t
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COVER DESIGN: SIMON LOXLEY r

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An imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and Peter N. Lindfield
668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620–2731 (US)
Volume VIII
Georgian Gothic
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ISSN 2043–8230
Series Editors
Karl Fugelso
Chris Jones
Medievalism aims to provide a forum for monographs and collections devoted to the
burgeoning and highly dynamic multi-disciplinary field of medievalism studies: that is, work
investigating the influence and appearance of ‘the medieval’ in the society and culture of later
ages. Titles within the series will investigate the post-medieval construction and manifesta-
tions of the Middle Ages – attitudes towards, and uses and meanings of, ‘the medieval’ – in all
fields of culture, from politics and international relations, literature, history, architecture, and
ceremonial ritual to film and the visual arts. It welcomes a wide range of topics, from histo-
riographical subjects to revivalism, with the emphasis always firmly on what the idea of ‘the
medieval’ has variously meant and continues to mean; it is founded on the belief that scholars
interested in the Middle Ages can and should communicate their research both beyond and
within the academic community of medievalists, and on the continuing relevance and pres-
ence of ‘the medieval’ in the contemporary world.
New proposals are welcomed. They may be sent directly to the editors or the publishers at
the addresses given below.
Professor Karl Fugelso Dr Chris Jones Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Art Department School of English PO Box 9
Towson University University of St Andrews Woodbridge
3103 Center for the Arts St Andrews Suffolk IP12 3DF
8000 York Road Fife KY16 9AL UK
Towson, MD 21252–0001 UK
USA
Previous volumes in this series are printed at the back of this book
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Georgian Gothic
Medievalist Architecture,
Furniture and Interiors, 1730–1840
Peter N. Lindfield
THE BOYDELL PRESS
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© Peter N. Lindfield 2016
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no
part of this work may be Photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted,
recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior
permission of the copyright owner
The right of Peter N. Lindfield to be identified as the author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2016
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 978 1 78327 127 6
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620-2731, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to
in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites
is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
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For Joanna, Neil and Fiona
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The publishers acknowledge the generous financial support
of the Marc Fitch Fund in the production of this volume.
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgements xv
Introduction:
the Gothic Aesthetic in Britain and British Furniture, 1730–1840 1
1 Understanding Gothic Architecture in Georgian Britain 7
The unknown: initial steps in the understanding of Gothic architecture 9
Subsequent steps in the understanding of Gothic architecture 23
Professionalised topography: the examination of medieval architecture 31
A transformation in the interpretation of Gothic architecture: later
theorists 36
2 Creation of Classical Gothic Architecture, Furniture and Interiors 42
Classical Gothic’s antecedents: Sir Christopher Wren, Nicholas
Hawksmoor, Sir John Vanbrugh 44
Reconfiguration of medieval architecture: William Kent and Batty Langley 54
The influence of Kent and Langley: early Georgian Gothic architecture,
interiors and furniture 66
3 High Fashion and Fragments of the Past:
the Omnipresence of Rococo Gothic 81
Rococo Gothic: in name only 82
Counter-curves, asymmetry and Rococo Gothic 91
Categories of Rococo-Gothic furniture 102
Rococo Gothic beyond the page: 1746–65 111
A style of the Union: Rococo-Gothic furniture north of the border 124
4 Fluctuating Tastes: Gothic in Later Eighteenth-century Britain 131
The Gothic paradox in Neoclassical Britain: 1764–1800 132
Maturing Gothic and its continuity: 1760–1800 145
‘Neoclassical Gothic’: a third type of Georgian Gothic 171
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viii Contents
5 The ‘Chaos of Modern Gothic Excrescences’: Regency to Revolution 180
The Wyatt dynasty: creating Gothic palaces 182
Eaton Hall: ‘distinguished’ architecture and interiors 194
George IV’s apartments: the breeding ground for a new type of Gothic? 204
L.N. Cottingham: student of medieval architecture, designer of Gothic
furniture and curator of antiquities, 1830–47 213
Conclusion 222
Appendix 228
Bibliography 234
Glossary 254
Index 257
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Illustrations
Figures
Fig. 1.1 Samuel and Nathanial Buck, The south east view of Clunokvaur
Abby, in the County of Caernarvon, 1742. Folio B D 3. Courtesy of
the Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. 10
Fig. 1.2 The Elevation of Montague House to the Court in Great Russell Street
London, Colen Campbell, Vitruvius Britannicus, I (1715). L 10.5.
Courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. 12
Fig. 1.3 The First Gothic Order, Batty and Thomas Langley, Ancient
Architecture: Restored and Improved (1741–42), plate 1. 49 630.
Courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University. 16
Fig. 1.4 Four Examples of Arcades for Piazza’s, Batty and Thomas Langley,
Ancient Architecture: Restored and Improved (1741–42), plate 29. 49
630. Courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University. 17
Fig. 1.5 A Lodge or House of Retirement, 70 feet front, William Halfpenny,
Rural Architecture in the Gothick Taste (1752), plate 12. NA8450
H17 1752. Courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon
Collection. 20
Fig. 1.6 House with Offices 256 feet in front, William Halfpenny, Chinese and
Gothic Architecture Properly Ornamented (1752), plate 10. NA966
H35 1752+ Oversize. Courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art,
Paul Mellon Collection. 21
Fig. 1.7 William Hallett Sr (attributed), The Pomfret Cabinet, c.1752–53.
Image courtesy of Lucy Wood. 33
Fig. 2.1 Sir Christopher Wren, Tom Tower, Christ Church, Oxford, 1681–82.
Author’s photograph. 47
Fig. 2.2 Nicholas Hawksmoor, Design for the North Quadrangle of All Souls
College, c.1717–18. YD4, fol. 11. Courtesy of the Provost and Fellows
of Worcester College, Oxford. 51
Fig. 2.3 Batty Langley (attributed), Designs for the elevation and the ground
floor of Moody Hall, c.1745–55. B1975.2.118–19. Courtesy of the Yale
Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. 56
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