The term “Victorian Gothic” is a bit misleading, in that the
gothic period in art, architecture, design and literature began several decades
before Queen Victoria came to the throne of Great Britain in 1837 and had run
its course long before her death in 1901. Indeed, the Great Exhibition of 1851
contained very few examples of gothic style among the many hundreds of pieces
on display, because the style was by then largely on its way out. It is
therefore necessary to look at the development of furniture design from around
1800 in order to understand it fully.
The fashion for all things gothic, although it had been
lurking in the background for some time (for example, Thomas Chippendale used gothic
motifs in some of his designs in the mid-18th century), took off
when England’s emerging middle class sought to spend their new-found wealth on
design that was noticeably “English”. An
important reason for this was that Britain was at war with Napoleonic France
until 1815 and there was a conscious desire not to copy French design, whether
Classical or Rococo.
The trend was to look backwards in time to the medieval
period, when English armies were defeating French ones at Agincourt and
elsewhere, and massive cathedrals were being built at places such as Salisbury
and York in a distinctively gothic style. Despite the fact that these buildings
were inspired by similar creations across Europe, especially in France, these
were thought by many to be quintessentially English and thus to be the style to
emulate in the early 19th century.
In terms of furniture design, a considerable amount of
imagination was applied in the drive to go back in time, given that hardly any
pieces of genuine medieval furniture had survived, and those that had done so were
noticeably simple in form and style, and a long way from some of the extraordinary
pieces that appeared during the pre-Victorian and Victorian eras.
The features that were characteristically gothic were the
same in terms of both architecture and furniture design. Chairs, beds, cabinets
and buildings likewise sprouted pinnacles and arches, crockets (projecting
carved leaf shapes), flower balls, clusters and carved figures. Beds were
designed that looked like medieval tombs and couches were built with decoration
that could have come straight from a 13th century cathedral.
It should therefore come as no surprise that gothic furniture
survived longer in ecclesiastical settings than in domestic ones. The novelty
of living in what looked like a medieval monastery, with its dark oak or
mahogany furniture in rooms dimly lit by narrow pointed windows, soon wore off.
Indeed, very few houses were ever furnished entirely in gothic style, which was
considered more suited to the “serious” rooms such as the hall and the library
rather than the bedrooms and drawing room in which people wished to relax.
However, gothic church furnishings stayed in vogue for much
longer, even into the 20th century. A good place to see gothic
furniture today is a typical church, be it Anglican or Nonconformist, that was
built during the Victorian vogue for church building and which has not
undergone subsequent modernisation.
The most significant designer of gothic furniture during the
Victorian period was the last great exponent of this style, namely Augustus
Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52). His name will always be associated with the
Houses of Parliament in Westminster, which were rebuilt, after a disastrous
fire, between 1840 and 1865. Pugin worked alongside the architect Sir Charles
Barry from 1844, although he did not live to see his work completed. Pugin was
responsible for many of the internal elements of the Houses of Parliament,
including the furnishings, and he embraced the gothic ethos in everything he
did. Whereas many designers tended to start with a basic form and add gothic
ornamentation as an afterthought, Pugin’s pieces were gothic through and through,
which made them convincing. It is easy to apply gothic principles in a way that
makes the finished result look cheap or even ridiculous, but Pugin’s pieces had
an integrity which no other designers of his time could equal. Items such as
the gilt throne from which the Queen opens Parliamentary sessions in the House
of Lords are at the pinnacle of gothic design and are entirely correct in their
setting.
Some of the best surviving gothic furniture was produced by
unknown designers in provincial factories. This was often mass produced, but
gothic decoration was applied sparingly to give the pieces a little bit of
character. One can find, for example, kitchen cupboards with panels in the
shape of arched church windows, or otherwise simple chairs with a gothic design
on the back.
Everything that bears the label “gothic” has to do with
fantasy in some shape or form, whether it be gothic novels such as Mary
Shelley’s “Frankenstein” or the follies built by Victorian landowners for no
purpose other than to catch the eye. This is because the gothic ideal was based
on an imaginary concept of a remote past. Good gothic architecture and design
therefore appeals to the imagination, although the worst can rightly excite
mockery and ridicule for being “over the top”.
A good place to see some excellent Victorian gothic
furniture is Windsor Castle, the interiors of which were designed by Sir Jeffry
Wyatville for King George IV in the gothic style. Another place is, as
mentioned above, the Houses of Parliament, and there are also some typical
gothic pieces in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
© John Welford
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