Interior details in a Workers Cottage- for me an interior should invite you to come in. The huge delft style plate on the wall was very large and very rare

Today there are many publications people can look to if they are planning inspired and original interior decoration. And, with a dash of savoir-faire you can push the boundaries of design and composition in many different ways and employ all types of styles. Fabrics like Toiles de Jouy; French printed cottons are once again coming back into vogue. When they were first the rage in 1770 Jean Francois Bimont wrote that they ‘serve to make furnishings of taste convenient and pleasant to the eye’. Such a lovely phrase.

When I went into business for myself as a practicing interior designer in the 80′s in Australia, it was the culmination of a dream that began as a child. At Authentic Decor what was available to purchase on the Australian market was significant in being able to render interiors that were both comfortable and convenient. The world was expanding, the dollar doing well against other currencies, and Europe and England a mecca for making cost effective purchases.

Long will I remember the time that I was in London and Europe when an Australian dollar = an English pound. It enabled me to purchase, some very special pieces including a lovely small antique Edwardian lounge, to be used to great effect in a bay window of a Paddington terrace I was renovating at the time. Then there was a handsome pair of late Regency early Victorian Chesterfields with a serpentine shaped front. They were found in an old barn at Tring, a small market town in Hertfordshire. The dealer was John Bly, one of the original presenters of the Antiques Roadshow. Covered in a heavy black faille, which is a finely ribbed woven fabric made from cotton and silk or manufactured fibres, they were shipped to Australia for the same price as an equivalent quality modern lounge suite would cost here at the time. Another purchase was a fine antique tea table of satinwood from Martyn Cook Antiques, which was superb in both its colour and patina aa was a superb gilded French clock. All such lovely things.

A great wall of knowledge is always inspiring, especially as here in a renovated worker's cottage interior. The superb woven contemporary textile has a delightful design of musical instruments together with flora.

Attention to detail, quality and imagination are good starting points if you are passionate about where you live and work and want your space to reflect who you are, and what you are on about. My interiors must be design convenient and aesthetically enriching. How to plan a living environment has certainly been integral to my life’s journey. Books are an important aspect of any room that I personally work or live in. Without them my life’s journey would have been very different indeed. There is nothing more inspiring than a great wall of knowledge, especially when it is combined with wonderful textiles chosen for their varying tactile and graphic qualities.

I particularly love unexpected colour combinations and beautifully woven fabrics. Weavers during the Middle Ages, early Renaissance in Italy and seventeenth century France and England imbued their work skilfully with crispness and abundant detail. Tapestries particularly have a wonderful depth of tone, richness of colour and exquisite gradations of tint and as such can add richness to a room whether its architectural style is traditional or contemporary.

Detail of corner of a client's living room

As my mother liked to recollect in later years, re-arranging the Federation flat our family lived in during my childhood was about trying to create more space and give everything and everybody living in it a little boost. This happened often during my teenage years. It was always about the shapes, the atmosphere and how the main living area could be changed dramatically by arranging different layouts with the existing furniture and furnishings. Change for the family was as good as a holiday.

Resources were always limited as there was seven children with twenty years between first and last and all brought up on one salary, at least until I was in my teens. When I commenced working for a building firm during the early sixties at Sydney the architect/estimator became a very special mentor and teacher. The firm sent me to complete a diploma in interior decoration, the only qualification possible at the time because in 1962 university courses were still a way off.

Three  years of on the job practical experience helped me to put my best foot forward, increasing my colour sense and technical knowledge. The firm was renovating a great many turn of the twentieth century grand old houses on the eastern suburbs waterfront at the time and visits to job sites were daily occurrences, a practice I kept up throughout my own working life.

Superb textiles...for a caring client

They were fabulous architectural spaces, which were all receiving a much need face lift and having bathrooms and ‘family rooms’ added, to bring them up to date with overseas trends. At the time my role included typing up the specifications for the fit out and helping with the costings. I was the personal assistant to the architect, who estimated the cost of jobs right down to the nails and battens used in every wall in every room. He took each room apart bit by bit to ensure that he didn’t forget to cost anything.

The firm prided themselves on never charging clients for one extra thing once the job had been quoted. This was invaluable experience for me in later years when renovating houses for my own family, and others. The budget was the budget, accurate and complete. And, we did not start until it was complete. A 15% contingency was always a must, to allow for unforeseen calamities. When the firm could return that to the client unused, well we knew we were doing our job properly.

Gaining a wide-ranging group of experiences by working with, and coordinating many different trades on the job, was of enormous help. Having two brothers-in-law in the industry was also an advantage. One was a plasterer and the other worked for one of the biggest textile distributor firms in Australia. Learning about different types of cement render and how long they needed to cure was valuable information, especially as I was on job sites on a daily basis with the architect/estimator. He also helped to grow my knowledge about how each trade needed to be managed, to save both time and costs.

When I did take on my first professional client, during the initial consultation a huge saving made to the layout was only possible because of the invaluable experience gained by working with the trades for over ten years on many different types of development sites. Once I started taking on projects of my own, working on renovations for an investment consortium meant happy times.

Most of these were period blocks of flats in and around the eastern suburbs beach area where I grew up. We would tidy them up, fix missing architectural details (lost picture rails and the like) and upgrade the facilities (kitchens and bathrooms) then paint and sell them on. In the 70′s it was possible to make good profits doing this, and the results were always pleasing for all involved.

Layering different types of textiles, such as faille and damask worked well in a Paddington terrace at Sydney during the early 90's. The chimney board reflects my love of books and was commissioned from John Quirk, a gifted trompe le'oil artist. The clock is antique French, early nineteenth century purchased through Martyn Cook Antiques, as was the glorious satinwood tea table and neoclassical silver teapot on its original stand. The lounge in the Bay is a restored Edwardian piece and there was a pair of Chesterfields, handsomely buttoned and covered in black faille

Space saving was always high on my agenda, having lived in a flat for my whole life. Creating a lot out of nothing was another skill, developed through years of helping my mother find ways of scrimping and saving to purchase a few yards of material to brighten our flat.

Just love a flat, which is very different to an apartment in that it has a back door, just like a house. So it was easy for my brother and I to fantasize as kids that we lived in one. The back door usually led to a fire escape, or if you were on the ground floor as we were, to a service yard of some description. Today renovated heritage flats are high on many people’s lists because of their high ceilings, architectural detail and those lovely back doors.

Attending a brush up course for old decorators in the late eighties at London’s Inchbald School of Design was illuminating, as so many new technologies were upgrading their standards. Massive changes in types of lighting and allowances for computers in the home were now important. The history of design, which I was teaching at home in Australia was also an invaluable tool to aid designers working on buildings based on heritage styles.

The Inchbald School of Design in the 21st century has become one of the most influential interior design schools in the world. Being taught by, then meeting and dining with legendary designer founding Director Michael Inchbald at his home was a rare treat. He had long been high on one of my most admired designers.

Summer interior with an 'impressionist' style chintz covering a pair of lounges. They had spare covers to add in winter, that provided a richer, warmer look to a room that was well lived in

He had worked on the Houses of Parliament and QEII when she was launched, so was an expert at space saving, which always was, and has remained, a special interest of mine.

At his charming home in London a tiny octagonal library with books to the ceiling had been fashioned from an old laundry, cupboard and toilet being re-located. He used mirrors very cleverly too, with great subtlety and charm. Reflections that went off into infinity. The dinner there with some of the teachers from the Inchbald, and a few of his friends. was one of the special experiences of my life.

It has always been important for me to attain a fine balance between traditional and contemporary design, especially when clients request that service. However many clients insisted on attaching secrecy clauses to the contracts, so showcasing any of those I was working on was often difficult. They did however enjoy the fact that I didn’t sweep in and want to clear everything away and start again.

In the interests of the environment, dispersing quality pieces or objects goes against my grain, especially if they can be recycled to another purpose. When buying furniture and the other necessary accoutrement’s of life, flexibility of use is important.

Having a personal passion for antiques and art led to my gaining further qualifications in the decorative arts and design history, which added another dimension to my interior design and lecturing experiences.

Working within the antiques industry as a dealer added yet another layer of information and expertise.

Detail Chinese lacquer screen

A one year course in the archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome at Sydney University was an indulgence I treasured. This came about because I had always loved the whole idea of going on a dig from extensive reading in childhood. I was also on a committee for years raising funds for the university treasure, The Nicholson Museum. This is where I met a friend who encouraged and supported my later efforts to found an academy teaching, among other things the history of design in architecture, interiors and gardens and how to design and complete interiors.

When we were adding furnishings to any house for a client I used to love hunting about for, and finding old ‘case’ furniture that would serve as a wardrobe in one house, a container for cups and saucers in another, or clothes in yet another. It was a friend who called me a second hand rose, a lovely term of endearment. This was because, apart from towels and fitted bottom sheets for the bed (what a wonderful invention they were) nearly everything else I ever purchased for my home during my adult life was second-hand.

Choosing quality, so it that could be sold if not required any more or when times were tough, was always a goal. That mindset comes from living through and experiencing first hand the rationing to riches phase following World War II. A lovely example is a folding screen.

Now screens are generally not something used by designers or decorators much in Australian interiors. In my lifetime I have owned two, one an early nineteenth century antique Chinese screen beautifully decorated on both sides with quite fine enameled work which is now sold. The other was a dusky old English Victorian model with painted decoration. Interestingly, this was the one other people around me always coveted the most and the one I love and have kept close, despite it weighing a ton. They didn’t skimp on wood in those days.

To my mind its simple really, nothing too flash about it and it didn’t cost more than a hundred dollars at the time. Painted with a black background it has five leaves, hinged to go both ways. It is evident to me however that someone poured their heart and soul into rendering the painted flowers upon it, all of which were popular plants in gardens at the time.

The flowers are beautifully rendered by hand and scattered and strewn delightfully across the top third of its surface. They provide an air of gentleness and relaxed harmony to any room, whether modern or traditional.

In the time I have owned this screen it has been a room divider, disposed in a corner to hide storage boxes, used as a dressing room screen and at present, with two leaves folded back, it has become a delightful bed head. For me it is one of the special ‘things’ I hope that I will enjoy until the end of my days.

Just love the way experienced architects, prior to World War II endeavoured to have main rooms facing north east in Australia, to catch the breezes, to minimize the sun in summer and to maximize it in winter.

The Turret Apartment, St Martin's House Brisbane

When I lived in ‘The Turret’ of St  Martin’s House at Brisbane, nearby St John’s Cathedral, the apartment faced north east and had casement windows. It was a truly delightful place to be, full of light and fresh breezes and in the five and a half years I lived there I never needed to use a heater once in winter. The afternoon sun was just low enough in the sky to penetrate the main living areas and warm up the thick walls so that it was warm all night.

A corner of my office...the framed textile is an antique sleeve from a nineteenth century Chinese robe and the books, well they are the essence of any interior I live or work in, as is that tapestry

Planning living spaces should be about enhancing the joy of life. As it should, the architecture of any space will dictate some of the terms when deciding how to complete your interior. It is always good to remember to be bold and to take risks. Large pieces of furniture can work well in small spaces as do rows of bookcases. Many people would shy away from using a large tapestry in a small space. Not me, I just love covering a whole wall with one, as I have in my current daily working environment.

There are no boundaries and no rules really when it comes to designing interiors, only guidelines that should always remain both flexible and practical. And, if it is for yourself, then its decoration must come from the heart.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle January 2012

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The mirror has occupied a unique place in the imagination of humans for as long as recorded history. It has been described as the ‘matrix of the symbolic’ accompanying the human quest to know and understand our identity. Many myths, legends and superstitions are associated with the mirror and in all cultures they are associated with truth. In antiquity the eye served precisely to characterize one’s beloved ocule mi, my little eye. In the pupil was an image of the one who looked into it. Gazing at one another to see the reflection of each other in the eyes was an aspect of love. It was in Eve’s eye, described as the mirror of love, that Adam first learned to know himself. From that encounter ‘reflection, concentration, self construction and reproduction’ were said to have been born.

Mastering reflection was one step towards an evolution that began with an observation by ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle in 330 BC. He questioned why the sun could make a circular image when it shined through a square hole. In the words of contemporary French historian Sabine Melchior Bonnet, it was part of a cycle that climaxed with the ‘democratisation of narcissism’ in the nineteenth century. Over the centuries a mirror became a metaphor for eye catching deception. What is it that the eye is really seeing?  Does the image it reveals have a foundation or consistency. When you move away from the mirror the image is lost, much like a shadow? Is it magic…how does it work? Was it really the Greek God of fire and metal Hephaestus who invented the mirror?

Know thyself is an ambitious ideal and a continuing dialogue between philosophy and love. It was well known in ancient times when writers mention that this, and other aphorisms were written the walls of the proneos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. In Ancient Greece looking at one’s reflection could mean losing one’s soul, and the ancients put forward all sorts of hypotheses concerning the formation of such images.

Narcissus, a painting attributed to the Baroque Master Caravaggio - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica at Rome

Narcissus in mythology was the son of the blue nymph Leiriope conceived when the river God Cephisuss raped his mother. He grew to be very beautiful but took no notice of other people because he did not care about anyone except himself. The beautiful nymph ECHO was one of many maidens who fell in love with him. She had lost her voice, except in foolish repetition of another’s shouted words but when she tried to declare her love he sent her away.

After witnessing his callousness, as one story goes, the Greek Goddess Artemis caused Narcissus to catch a glimpse of his own reflection in a pristine pool of water and fall in love with himself. This made it impossible for him to ever consummate a love of his own or possess a beloved, just like all those suitors he had turned away and rejected. His grief was so great he plunged a dagger into his breast and where the blood fell to the ground beautiful pure white flowers sprouted.

There are many myths and legends associated with the paintings on ancient Greek vases. They reveal secrets about ancient Greek civilization, including the daily ritual of the ladies ‘toilette’.  We know ladies painted their faces with white-lead paint using hand mirrors that consisted of circular pieces of polished bronze or a combination of other metals, either without a handle or with one that was often richly adorned.

The earliest known mirror, from a cache world-wide of about three thousand such mirrors, dates from ten centuries before the Christ event. It is Etruscan, a thick disc made of metal alloys to which a small handle was attached by means of three rivets.  As in all ancient mirrors it was polished to a high degree on one side to obtain a reflection.

Etruscan Engraved Mirror

Mirrors engraved with figurative scenes date from the so-called Saitic period between 663 and 526 BCE.  It is clear from comparison with other ancient Greek mirrors from the same period the Etruscans occupied part of which we now know as Italy and were not only inspired by Greek art in a general way, but also frequently copied Greek models. They did this with such great care and precision today it needs an expert to reveal the difference.

Mirrors found were an important aspect of Etruscan burial sites, perhaps as funerary offerings like in the burial of the Pharaohs of Egypt when everyday items were included for the journey into the afterlife.

Much of the mythology associated with mirror images relates to offering a moral message. They may also have had a further meaning ‘extending beyond cosmetic needs’ for that of ‘cult’ ceremonies and rituals. This would explain why some subjects recorded on ancient mirrors would not be suitable for a ‘ladies’ mirror but instead be used on a mirror used by a man.

Greek Geographer Pausanius, whose travel guide was published in the second century records that a mirror decorated the entrance to the temple of Lycosura considered the most ancient city of ancient Greece, and indeed perhaps the world.  The Mirror was supposedly a reminder to those entering that in order to be receptive of the message of the Gods they needed to shed their own appearance and reveal their souls beneath so they could be refreshed and healed.

Before leaving they were able to re-clothe themselves with a new identity and go forth into the world with a sense of direction, motivation and purpose. This whole idea is mirrored if you like, in the ceremony of Christian baptism, where one must go through a symbolic ritual of dying from the life you are currently living and after being immersed in water reborn again into a new life.

Roman Engraved Silver Mirror

During the Roman Empire men used mirrors and, not only its elite aristocrats. Servants too acquired mirrors at that time and their owners took great care to protect them from rust, stains and scratches by using fabric coverings and remnants are still visible on some specimens that exist today. Besides metal Romans valued a black transparent volcanic rock called obsidian for its reflective powers.

Archaeologists have established that mirrors used by the Emperor Nero in his ‘domus aurea’ were made of a reflective phengite a mineral that reputedly ‘gave off such a dazzling glow they overpowered the natural light of day”. Light was an intangible phenomenon by which our own world was made visible. Symbolic of goodness, revelation and beauty light became the focal point of philosophical argument and theories in all the different religions and cultures of the world.

Today we associate glass with mirror. However it was a long time before metals and glass were brought together to make what we would today call a mirror. Glass in its earliest form was not blown, but moulded, using tools to shape and form it. An ability to make tools to mould and carve materials at will meant that hunter gatherer man, as well as being able to form weapons for survival purposes, could expand his skills and make artifacts that by extension are at the beginning of art.

The terminology of glass was recorded on cuneiform tablets from the ancient Sumerian city of Nineveh seven centuries before the Christ event where three different furnaces for metal are described. Receptacles for melting raw materials are also mentioned in Egypt in the Amarna period during the reign of monotheist Pharaoh Akhenaten.

To explain the origins of glass many writers turn to a picturesque story written in the first century by Roman writer and commentator on natural and social history Pliny the Elder. He tells how merchants encamped on the sands of the River Belus placed their cooking pots on cakes of natron, a native hydrous sodium carbonate, they were engaged in transporting. In the morning they found the sand and soda had fused together forming a new substance, glass. Pliny also talks about the ‘makers of glass’ with reference to the inhabitants of Sidon in Lebanon. The only other early written reference we have is by Alexander of Aphrodisias in the third century.

The beauty of Roman Glass

We do know the Romans were producing glass in some quantity from the first century by the fragments and vessels found in the ruins of Roman sites and at Pompeii where glass vessels are clearly depicted in wall paintings. Whether the ancients were familiar with glass mirrors is a matter of debate amongst scholars. The Romans became very proficient at blowing glass and used lead to strengthen it. Most archaeological evidence of glass mirror dates from the third century and comes from Egypt, Gaul, Asia Minor and Germany.

Archaeological digs in Egypt have uncovered mirrors made and backed with lead that have glass with a convex curve behind the lead over which a coating of gold or tin had been applied. Variations on this process prevailed it seems for centuries well into the Middle Ages. Exploitation of light in the East was always through carved tracery of stone made possible because of climatic conditions. It was only in Europe that the introduction of an optimum amount of light was required because the climate of the Middle Ages was one of a preponderance of dull days.

Window stained glass refracting glorious light in St John's Cathedral at Brisbane

Great expanses of glass became the hallmark of what has since been termed Gothic architecture, whose other characteristics include pointed arches, stone tracery and external buttresses. It was during the Abbot Suger’s rebuilding of the Royal Abbey at St. Denis near Paris in the eleventh century the golden age of European Gothic architecture and use of glass stained with colour began.  Neo-Platonic theory, to which Suger subscribed meant that he produced a style of architecture lit by ‘radiant windows’ to ‘illumine men’s minds so they may travel through it to an apprehension of God’s light’. This was only possible by his age because of the advances being made in France in glass making techniques and an ability to colour glass. Before the advent of this uniquely Christian art form windows were only utilitarian. Monks like Suger were aware coloured glass not only sent an image of deep spirituality but also drew the faithful to read the messages of the stories it told because it dazzled them with its radiance.

One can only try to imagine the effect of such brilliance on a medieval mind emerging from a state of written illiteracy – it must have been quite staggering. In Cathedrals around the world reflected colours are an evocative reminder of the rainbow and God’s covenant with man following the flood, according to Genesis.

Going to church for medieval people not only meant inner spiritual instruction and comfort but also entry into a magical kingdom where a mystical experience made man more receptive to God.  A contrast in our own day would be with computer generated special effects in movie cinemas. There we are transported to another world where we can forget our difficulties,  mind numbing challenges and allow ourselves a break from the humdrum reality of everyday life.

Lady and the Unicorn - Sight

During the twelfth century a monk named Théophile recorded contemporary glass making techniques.  This was at a time when commentators viewed science and the supernatural as intimately linked, with the transformation of half solid, half liquid, molten glass into a transparent and rigid substance viewed as some sort of magic or alchemy.

In his writing he refers to French glass-makers being considered masters of the art and a recipe….two parts beech tree ashes to one part sand. Their methods of glass blowing involved procedures he states ‘as inherited from the ancients’. The technique of applying a silvered backing to mirrors evolved slowly and from the thirteenth century small mirrors were being exported to Genoa and from there all over the Mediterranean world.

In the thirteenth century a Franciscan monk from Oxford in England John Peckham wrote a treatise on optics mentioning glass mirrors covered in lead. The famous medieval poem Roman de la Rose also dedicated a great stanza to the ‘marvellous powers of the mirror’. Germans figure among the possible inventors of modern glass-making process with two glass makers from Murano in Venice declaring they were the only ones to know ‘the secret of making mirrors of crystalline glass, a most valuable and singular thing‘.

The technique of blowing glass was recorded quite methodically by a secretary to the Duke of Lorraine in the early sixteenth century. He describes how ‘an iron attached to the end of stick’ was pulled out so ‘that the glowing timber which, once blown and rolled out on a plank became so round and swollen it took the form and size of large, average and small mirrors as needed’.  The worker then ‘applied lead ‘with great skill in order to reveal the lustre’.

The Venetians challenged the glass-makers of Lorrain to be the first to perfect glass making and over three hundred years they would rise to such prominence that no one believed they could ever be overtaken. From the middle of the fifteenth century glass-makers from Murano knew how to make a glass so pure, white and fine they called it ‘crystalline’ because of its similarities to rock crystal, whose transparency and shine it resembled.

...who is the fairest of them all...

However the reputation the Venetian republic established in glass-making attracted workers from northern Europe and eventually it wiped out all competitive initiatives from abroad. At Venice they nurtured and treated glass-makers like artists, rather than artisans, granting them privileges such as the right to marry the daughters of nobles with many families gaining celebrity status. However it also imprisoned them on the island of Murano to keep a monopoly on supply by guarding the secrets associated with its production.

As they were perfecting the technique of cylindrical blowing the Venetians improved silvering by the addition of mercury and tin and arrived at a ‘divinely beautiful, pure and incorruptible object, the mirror’…’a beautiful and useful invention’.

A Mirror so I can admire myself
You must give me one of the ivory ones
And the case that is noble and genteel
Hung from silver chains.

In the sixteenth century in France King Francois 1 owned a Venetian mirror decorated with gold and precious stones. A lover of luxury and Italian art at his court at Fontainbleau Francois acquired 25 more. Just one cost 360 ecus of gold and he started a fashion his courtiers followed and soon everyone was investing in this fascinating new object.

One of a sixteenth century Lyon group of writers Claude de Taillemon had a motto; one’s duty is to see. He said ‘the pupil of the eye transports me to itself so that I enter in the center where I see myself clearly’. During the medieval period ancient goddesses such as Aphrodite the Greek Goddess of Love, or Venus her Roman counterpart, had been a focus of fear of nudity, luxuria, or sensuality, as well as paganism. During the Italian Renaissance  she returned to her original role as universal mother and creator of all living things.

...what is the truth asks painter Peter Paul Rubens

Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) painted her as a contemporary lady and placed her before a mirror, a symbol of truth (it does not lie) but reflects pride (Satan’s image), as well as vanity and lust. Rubens used the mirror as a symbol of idle dalliance and as an allegory for the battle for her immortal soul. The power of love was meant to transform the soul and became a popular theme at this time in art works. He used pearl earrings to illustrate the darker and lighter sides of passion, the white pearl highly visible, the black pearl teasingly reflected only in her mirror. She is a truly luscious lady wearing, well nothing at all really, except a gold bracelet decorated with arrows, a sign that Cupid has been around endeavouring to use the power of love to disarm her strength.

Mirrors were fascinating and rare objects at this time. Through their lens until today the material world worked its way well into our consciousness, affecting the way in which we perceive others, as well as ourselves. From the sixteenth century onward the mirror was an indispensable hand tool for the toilette of well born ladies. The Venetian mirror however was still a very rare object for more than two centuries and owning one became a symbol of high status.  At the same time painting and literacy shared an objective for that of increasing the value of an image.

For the greater portion of the population it was mainly polished metal mirrors that remained widespread. They were sold at the market or by street vendors who would cry out Little mirrors shiny and snug…ready to reflect your ugly mug! And- I sell purses, belts and laces, I know how to tie up your shoes and have mirrors for the sweetest faces

In the sixteenth century flattery was recognized as a deceptive illusion, and this was all bound up with vanity. It was considered better to please someone than alienate them in a social setting where personal expression was now considered to reflect one’s own power and glory. Supplying the French court and nobles with mirror became an important concern for Venice as it seemed they could not resist the seduction of its novelty.

Catherine de Medici installed a cabinet lined with 119 Venetian mirrors following the death of Henry II and visitors could view their portrait multiplying before the mirror. The Chamber of Mirrors became the height of fashion and there was great rivalry between the ladies of the court who could not imagine herself without a chamber of mirrors of her own.  From the late sixteenth and into the early seventeenth century Henry IV, the Great of France encouraged glass makers by granting titles of nobility whether they be French or foreigners and many took up his offer. Venice kept itself informed of their progress but in the end none of the scattered efforts was conclusive and French dealers still continued to import their wares from Venice.

During the reign of Louis XIV (1638-1715)  the furniture inventories of the crown recorded 563 mirrors and it was Louis XIV’s able 1^st Minister, Colbert who decided to concentrate his efforts and found a glass industry. He granted Sir Nicolas Dunoyer, the son of one of the king’s butlers and a tax collector in Orleans a warrant to establish the policies and procedures of the new company, which would eventually become the Royal Company of Glass and Mirrors.  However this would not happen before a lot of intriguing, spying at Murano and other matters of industrial espionage had taken place. From 1666 French writer, essayist and philosopher Voltaire wrote ‘We began to make glass panels as beautiful as those of Venice, which had previously furnished them to all of Europe and soon we made some whose size and beauty were never imitated elsewhere’

The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles by William Orpen

In the Comte de Saint Simon’s Memoirs of his time at Versailles he describes the court as a multitude of voyeurs all observing each other’s secrets…’As we were walking in his small hallway, I saw in the mirror at the end of the passage that he was laughing while lowering his eyes, like a man enjoying the conversation he was overhearing’. The mirror allows nothing to hide in the shadows and inset into all the walls and doors they became a theatre of reflection and artifice. When the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles was presented to the public in 1684 everyone found something to say in praise.  What more perfect symbol could be found for the dazzling reign of the so-called Sun King himself.

Everyone could admire himself or herself from head to toe. Seventeen false window casements opposite seventeen real windows were covered with eighteen mirrors placed side by side, unframed, joined by finely carved gilded copper frames. There were 306 panes of glass blended to give the appearance of being part of a larger single pane…the hall vanishing in the radiance of shimmering surfaces and bursts of light. Some visitors described it as the ‘architecture of emptiness’. Reality and reflection supported each other reciprocally.

It cost altogether 654,000 pounds to produce the effect although it is not known how much of this was spent on the glass. Over the years since it has reflected many great moments in the history of the world. At the time however Colbert, Louis’ 1^st Minister, that great entrepreneurial master of ceremonies used it to launch the Royal Mirror Company and its success gave considerable momentum to the young industry and in increasing public awareness of the decor possibilities of the mirror.

Jeanne-Antoinette, Marquise de Pompadour in her mirrored boudoir

By using mirror the French designers could now reflect nature as an element of interior décor, choosing the best location for the installation of glass. The aristocratic society of the court were passionate about emphasizing the optical and visual as it was all associated with light that element so desired indoors on dark days and dark nights. When Francois Boucher painted Mme de Pompadour, Louis XV’s mistress he also used mirror to reflect the fact that she was exceedingly proud of the nape of her neck.

The metaphorical distance between the polished surface of a mirror from antiquity to one made of glass for the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles in the seventeenth century is immense. It is probably about the same as that of between the plaited rushes used in window insets of medieval houses to that of plate glass display windows of a modern department store.

Mastery over the reflection was only the first stage of a cultural revolution that would influence the relationship between man and image for evermore.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the ability to produce larger sheets of mirror became a reality. It promoted the compleat gentleman, helping him to refine his image and bodily adornment and also served to establish the reputation of the beautiful soul, just as a rich frame set off the beautiful mirror.

Regency Convex Mirror c1810 courtesy Martyn Cook, Martyn Cook Antiques, Sydney Australia

“Ribbons, lace and mirrors are three things the French cannot live without’ said a Sicilian visiting Paris.

Mirror that has pleased me so well
Mirror ever since I have seen myself in you
Deep sighs have killed me
And I am lost myself
Just as handsome Narcissus became lost

In the nineteenth century the mirrored boudoir serving as a stage for dual narcissism, one in which each lover is both voyeur and exhibitionist trying to attract the gaze of the other.

The clever convex mirror also came back into popular use in interior decor allowing the user to see what was happening behind them. They had a wide field of view and if you were dabbling in the art of intrigue it could be very handy and, they also reflected the light from candles elegantly.

The Mirror in history was at first an instrument of social hierarchy and aristocratic ideal. Then, as it became commonplace, it served as a symbol of equality feeding our narcissistic need for recognition. What role will the mirror continue to play in our future or will we always remain haunted by what is not found within it?

Mirror Mirror on the wall….who is the fairest of them all?

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

*Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825)

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It included the sumptuous and heavily decorated French design styles of around 1910, which managed to survive World War I intact and culminated at Paris in 1925 with a great International Exhibition of the Decorative Arts. (The Exposition Des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels). The term Art Deco,  later coined in the 1960′s was meant to embrace every area of design and the decorative arts, including architecture, interiors, furniture, fashion, jewellery, painting, graphics, bookbinding, ceramics, costume, glass, silver, metalware and ceramics. It was all about glamour.

Its beginnings were about simplifying form and fitting it to suit function. Its characteristics become evident in architectural elements used in the design of buildings from around the 1880′s onward and, in objet d’art produced from as early as 1906. The clientele were all wealthy, fashionable art-lovers, who enjoyed living in a luxurious environment. Their lives were enhanced by wearing couture clothes, by such as Paul Poiret, whose gowns reflected their avant-garde status. The style was influenced by exotic design including costumes and the sets of the Russian entrepreneur Serge Diaghilev (1872 – 1929) and his outstanding Ballet Russes.

At the 1925 exhibition exceptional designers and manufactures such as Jacques Ruhlmann, Sue et Mare, Jules Leleu, Andre Groult and Maurice Dufrene collaborated with the artisans and designers from the major Parisian department stores, to create splendid pavilions in which to show off their new contemporary designs. Furniture gained exotic and well figured veneers, ivory inlays and stylised floral motifs.

Jaques Ruhlmann (1879 – 1933) was unrivaled in his field in the France of the early 1920’s. He made his debut at the Salon d’Automne of 1913, exhibiting furniture par excellence. His three legged corner cabinet of lacquered rosewood inlaid with ivory, ebony and rare woods was a revolution in style. He declared the salvation of art depended on an elite, and that in the end, everyone would have gained.

Architecture encompassed all shapes; curves that were sleek,  streamlined and highlighted by painted lines and the use of stylish new age lettering; verticals soaring upward as skyscrapers surmounted by stepped pyramidal shapes; horizontals that were all at once clean, cool filled with light and space. In cities around the world local idiosyncratic motifs, unique to each time and place, were incorporated into a building and its architectural detail.

At Sydney, Australia a twelve storey building constructed for doctors who, at the time were members of the British Medical Association, is a mini skyscraper with Gothic and Tudor details, including some extraordinary gargoyles. Originally built on a stylish street filled with elegant English Victorian style stone and lace balconied mansions, of which only two remain today, it must have taken the locals some time to come to terms with. Near the top of its facade, which is resolved into the stepped elements now so characteristic of skyscraper Art Deco architecture, there is a group of seated knights. They are bearing the caduceus, a symbol from classical antiquity, sometimes used as a symbol of medicine on their shields. They are there to remind the building’s occupants about their pledge of fealty to the profession of medicine. Two large koala bears disposed symmetrically are hugging the building, perhaps reminding the doctors inside of their need for compassion in an often unfeeling contemporary world.

Art Deco was the first universal design style in over a hundred years and it manifested itself emotionally with zest, colour and playfulness. It was about fulfilling a deeply felt need for a style that would not be threatened by change as it was adaptable for every culture.

As the pace of life quickened its protagonists wanted to ward off the threat of a civilization dominated by either industry or technology, or both.

Art Deco gathered design elements from as far away as ancient Egypt, adding aspects of every other style since and then reaching forward to the futuristic world of popular American space cowboy Buck Rogers.

Savvy and streamlined at first as it progressed the style became a cultural melting pot that included a fascination for Byzantium, the Gothic, classical Greece, the exotic Near and Far east, for South America, tribal Africa and the Ballet Russes, whose dancing troupe with their celebrity leader, Russian art critic, patron, impresario and founder, Serge Diaghilev, were busy touring the world.

It was also about the fashionable world of haute couture as dresses began to ape the crisp clean lines of a new international architectural style, while their owners sought to become celebrities,  living style icons.

The Vaudeville Brasserie at Paris was just one of a new wave of glittering, glazed and glorious marble sheathed eating establishments where the art of dining in style was practiced well. It was filled with sleek sculptures of stylized classical, but modern maidens, exuberant bronze relief panels and modernist lighting fixtures evoking an image of extreme elegance.

Its clients during the 20′s and 30′s were wealthy, fashion conscious art lovers. They enjoyed living in luxurious environments, eating out in elegant restaurants and being admired for the couture clothes they wore. They sought to reinforce their avant-garde status by living art.

Stunning glass by art glass workers Rene Lalique and Daum, lighting and wrought-iron fixtures by Edgar Brandt and Charles Schneider, beautiful lacquer and metalwork produced by Jean Dunand and porcelains by the famous ceramic factory at Sevres, were featured in many glamorous interiors.

The most fashionable travelled on trains and ships glimmering with glass and mirrors and shimmering from the lavish, but stylish application of gold and silver leaf. The Orient Express was the ultimate expression of style, for those wanting to project it. Its very fit out evoked the mystery, romance and period flavour of the time. The dining car was decorated by genius glassmaker Rene Lalique, whose works were considered the height of avante garde?

Dining on exquisite French cuisine under the auspices of the ‘three fates’ from antiquity, now in their new streamlined form, was very much de rigeur. As were the public rooms of the Normandie, an ocean liner launched in May 1935,

They were that of a latter day Galerie des Glaces reminiscent of Louis XIV and the court at Versailles. Two hundred tables and chairs were set amid a shimmering windowless, but air-conditioned hall, again illuminated by the genius sculptor of glass himself, Rene Lalique.

Massive pendent ceiling lustres were at either end, the walls veneered in hammered glass panels interspersed with over thirty elongated lighting fixtures and twelve fountains of light on pedestals adding to the sparkling atmosphere.

An allegorical mural dominated the Normandie’s Grand Salon whose subject was the history of the sea and navigation. Executed in the Verre eglomise technique, in which panels of plate glass are painted on the reverse, they were also embellished with gold and silver leaf and finally fixed to a canvas backing.

Tapestry from the Huguenot Tapestry Factory Aubusson in France covered chairs and sofas that were rose red and abloom with floral designs, scattered about the room. Artificial light emanated from five tiered fountains placed in the center of its circular banquettes.

Comfort and conviviality were major concerns. Art Deco is an exciting style, and should; ‘like the archetypal drink of the period be enjoyed while it is still laughing at you’ said Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, who was always a law unto himself.

Paul Iribe Art Deco Commode

Furniture shapes of the ‘Art Deco’ period were also grounded in eighteenth century role models. Art Deco’s purpose was luxury and leisure perfectly exemplified by Paul Iribe whose designs celebrated classicism and styles favoured originally by the royal courts of France.

A delightful commode, laquered in celadon green,  is a pared down version of an intimate piece of furniture conceived during the reign of Louix XV and his mistress, a Woman of Influence: Mme de Pompadour. Its stylized sunburst motif is one of Art Deco’s most favoured.

Paul Iribe also used the stylized rose, a popular motif championed by the great Spanish painter, sculptor and draughtsman Pablo Picasso himself. The more masculine commode he designed has a swag of stylized flowers, including a rose in the drape at the base, which is very classy.

Armand Albert Rateau designed for fashion icon Jeanne Lanvin. Fixtures and fittings in a sleek bathroom became a lavish and exotic essay on flora and fauna. Bird shaped taps. A carved stucco wall panel with a forest scene behind the bath, bathtub and basin of cream Sienna marble. The floor was a crisp statement of geometric design. The metalwork of mirror, lamp and fixtures of patinated bronze.

Exotic materials such as sharkskin, or shagreen as it became more commonly known, was a favoured material dyed a soft green in imitation of antique Chinese celadon ceramic wares, which looked so at home in Art Deco interiors.

Austrian architect, interior designer and applied artist Josef Hoffman (1870-1956), who was an elder statesman of the movement, reasserted an ornaments right to exist for its own sake. Ivory carving was first established in Dieppe in the sixteenth century.

French sculptor Ferdinand Priess had a taste for classical figurines and worked on a series of nude and partly draped Greek goddesses made of bronze and ivory. He also designed a large number of statuettes of children, clothed or naked made in ivory or in bronze and ivory like the flame leaper.

In America Art Deco was celebrated in New York by the building of the Chrysler Building 1928-30, designed by architect William Van Alen for Walter P. Chrysler. It was the direct expression of that will to power, which only lies behind free competitive enterprise. It was building art with a touch of wizardry and illusion, playing with effects of materials.

It was the global depression that put an end to the art of the skyscraper, just as American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was declaring ‘they are monotonous’ and that ‘dizziness has given place to nausea’.

The Art Deco style was about integrating contemporary living with art, and turning life into art against those consciously working for the undoing of art, and its purpose was enjoyment.

Carolyn McDowall August 2010©The Culture Concept

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Madame du Pompadour by Francois Boucher

The pleasure of love is in loving*

French painter François Boucher (1703-1770) produced many of the images we have of the enigmatic Jeanne Antoinette, Marquise de Pompadour, Maîtresse-en-titre, or the official Mistress of Louis XV of France. The daughter of a local beauty, Louise-Madeleine de la Motte and her husband François Poisson, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born at Paris in 1720. At that time it was really little more than an overgrown village, bearing very little resemblance to the city we know to-day. The narrow streets were noisy and dirty and if it rained you could not walk in the street without getting mud up to your knees. Her father was a jolly fellow and he bore the brunt of all the jokes about their name, which meant fish. A steward to the Paris brothers, who were in charge of the economy of France, he was made the scapegoat in a black market scandal and forced to flee to Germany where he remained in exile for nine years. Her mother, a reputed beauty, was rescued from her misfortunes by M. Le Normant de Tournehem one time ambassador to Sweden, a Director of the Compagnie des Indes, collector of indirect taxes and friend of the Paris brothers.

French Painter Charles-André van Loo - Mme de Pompadour, Actor

Jeanne-Antoinette, together with her brother Abel, was educated by de Tournehem. When she was nine her mother had her fortune told and she learned she was destined to reign over the heart of a king. Following that her family playfully called her Reinette and set about ensuring she received a worldly education under the watchful eye of de Tournehem.  By the time she was in her late teens she could act, dance, sing, recite whole plays by heart and play the clavichord to perfection. She was an enthusiastic gardener and botanist and knew all about the wonderful shrubs pouring into France from all over the globe. Her handwriting was beautiful and legible and she painted, drew and engraved on precious stones. She was last but not least, a superlative housekeeper. Accomplished and beautiful honesty and truth were said to be the mainstays of her character and she was known never to have told a lie. She charmed everyone, her family adored her and her health was the only stumbling block throughout her life as it was very delicate.

Charles Le Normant d'Etiolles

Portrait Marquise de Pompadour by Maurice-Quentin de la Tour

Jeanne Antoinette was exceedingly pretty, although it was her brother Abel who said that not one of her portraits rendered by Boucher was really like her. So she remains to history an enigma in that respect. What we can assume is based on the documented evidence of people who surrounded her and they said she was lovely with eyes that sparkled with life. When her father did finally return from exile the two families of Poisson and Tournehem lived happily together.

In 1741 aged 19 both families agreed to marry Reinette off to Tournehem’s nephew Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d’Étiolles because protocol demanded a mistress of the King was married. Although reticent at first after Charles had met her he fell promptly and madly in love. She promised that she would never leave him, except of course for the King, because she completely believed in her destiny. They were gifted an estate at Étiolles (28km south of Paris) as a wedding gift from her guardian. It was sited on the edge of the forest of Sénart where the king hunted.

Her young husband was infatuated with her and she was celebrated in the fashionable world of Paris. Invitations into the best society were available and she founded her own salon at Étiolles where she met many of the great philosophes. They included writer, essayist and philosopher Voltaire, who noted that she was always amiable, charming and very talented. After many miscarriages and the loss of a son she gave birth to a daughter Alexandrine, who became the light of her life.

At Versailles, where gossip thrived, the King, Louis XV soon knew her name and she set out to make sure he would also know her by sight. Louis XV’s hunting lodge was called Choisy, where he went for privacy and fun.  Although the bourgeouis were not allowed to ride in his hunt, the rule was relaxed for near neighbours so they could follow the hunt in their carriages. Reinette not content with riding behind the hunt instead reputedly drove across the path of the king a vision of loveliness and outrageously for a lady,  standing up dressed in pink while driving a blue phaeton or, the next day dressed in blue while driving a pink one.

The strategy worked because the King did not fail to notice her. His present mistress also noticed and she was warned away. However fate was on her side and took a hand when the current mistress died suddenly. The gossip about who would replace her was rife at court and the King, it was rumoured, was bored with temperamental aristocratic ladies.

Tapestry depicting the Ball of the Yew Trees in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

In February 1745 the Dauphin of France married the Infanta Marie Therese Raphaele of Spain. At a splendid ball in their honour everyone waited for the King to appear when out of his apartment trundled eight people dressed as eight yew trees clipped like those in the garden in the shape of pillars with vases on them.

Louis XV was disguised as one of the yew trees, having fun and travelling incognito.  However during the course of the evening he was reputedly seen unmasked laughing happily with Reinette who was dressed as Diana the Huntress. Bets were quickly laid as to when, if, or when he would bring her to Versailles as his mistress.

The official King’s mistress had enormous power at court.

No one would believe a member of the bourgeouise, as Reinette was, would learn all of its political intricacies, which relied on not only words and deeds but also stifling rituals. But carry it off she did in great style and it was reported that when her husband was told he fainted dead away, but she was never to return to him and he became very bitter towards her.

Jeanne Antoinette as Diana the Huntress

Versailles in the eighteenth century was a pleasure palace and the stiff formality of Louis XIV’s court had given way to an atmosphere of informality.

The great monument to Louis XIV still radiated cheerfulness but life was for pleasure and most particularly for being in, and making love, for gambling, hunting and other official entertainments.

Red morocco binding with Madame de Pompadour's arms.

Love just like everything else was subjected to man made rules, and the game always had to be played according to the rules.

Louis endowed Reinette with the title Marquise de Pompadour and gave her the title deeds to an estate of this name bearing her own coat of arms – three castles on an azure ground.

Pompadour rhymed with amour so her happiness was complete.

She was installed in private apartments at Versailles (recently restored) and began her reign of nearly twenty years.

Her life was about organising his life, which meant it had to revolve around pleasure and she was very happy with him. A private staircase led from his apartments to hers, which was always filled with people, animals, birds, pictures and curiosities of all sorts, stunning small pieces of furniture, plans, lively sketches, maps, her beautiful embroidery, her letters, her cosmetics and with the flowers she loved.  Her vast library contained 3,525 volumes  all bound in leather and gilt with her coat of arms.

He was enchanted, bewitched and fell completely in love.

Snuff Box Mme de Pompadour

This gold and enamel, chiselled, chased and engraved snuff box was made 1764-1765 by Louis-Philippe Demay (active 1758-1772) Goldsmith. It shows miniatures of two paintings by Boucher, which Madame de Pompadour commissioned for herself. On the top is L’Amour désarmé where Cupid implores Venus to return his bow and arrow, and on the bottom the Toilette de Vénus, which she hung in her bathroom. The latter was not even available in engraved form when this box was made, suggesting that either she, before her death in 1764, or her brother on inheriting the two paintings, commissioned this box from Demay.

Jeanne Antoinette loved to acquire houses and then expend energy, taste and knowledge on embellishing them.

The hermitage at Versailles was a rustic one storied pavilion with a wonderful garden arranged for scent so that one heavenly smell led to another. She had fifty orange trees, lemons oleanders, myrtle, jasmine , gardenias and tuberoses, olives, yellow jasmine and lilac from Judea, pomegranates in straight avenues with trellised palisades leading to bower of roses surrounding a marble Apollo.

The interiors were simply decorated with hangings of cotton and simple furniture of painted wood. The King would pretend he was going hunting leaving the palace booted and spurred and spend the whole day there with her, sometimes cooking supper for himself. She had a farmyard with cows, goats, hens and a donkey, supplying milk for her weak constitution.

Marquise de Pompadour by Francois Boucher

She had to be dressed, as though for a ball by eight each morning then attend mass in an unheated chapel, and during the day she would not have one moment to herself.

She was very proud of the nape of her neck and had Francois Boucher record it in what is probably the most stunning painting we have of her in her apartment, wearing her most beautiful sea green silk dress trimmed with copious pink roses.

Reinette paid court to the Queen, received a succession of visitors, handwriting sometimes as many as sixty letters a week and arranging and presiding over supper parties nearly every night. She loved music and enjoyed entertaining Louis and their intimate friends

At least once a week she would arrange a voyage of one or two nights and hold a party to entertain guests in houses often filled with workmen where improvements or landscape gardening was in progress and needed her supervision, and it often proved too much for her delicate constitution.

The Duc de Richelieu, First Gentleman of the Bedchamber organized the palace entertainments, which hardly varied for fifty years, so it was to the Marquise Louis looked to for light relief from the tedium of his life and she did not disappoint him, often organising her own private theatricals. The rigours of her day imposed a great strain on her health as she was seldom in bed before two or three in the morning. All the houses she furnished and embellished for the King had a perfection of taste with a great attention to detail and accounts survive attesting to that fact.

Painted decoration by Christopher Huet

The only original painted decoration surviving today of hers is at the Chateau de Champs – Sur – Marne. The decorations she put in place cost 200,000 livres in a matter of three years the works probably designed by her personal architect Jean Cailleteau (l’Assurance) as in all of her residences, she had a profound influence on style. These panels were painted with beautiful arabesque work by Christopher Huet, the last work he did before he died.

Mme du Pompadour's Chateau Bellevue, recorded in a design for an overdoor by Van Loo

The only house of any size Reinette built for herself was her Chateau Bellevue. Contemporarily it was described as the most perfect example of French domestic architecture.

Designed and built for her under the supervision of  Jean Cailleteau (l’Assurance), who had studied at Rome, by order of the King it had nine windows on the front overlooking the river; marble busts decorated its simple facade, which was classically inspired and embellished with delicate refined rococo decoration.

Inside were sculptures and vases by Pigalle, Valconnet and Adam, the panelling was by Verberckt with superb painted decorations by Van Loo and Boucher.

The walls of her rooms were either bluish white and gold or painted in bright pastel colours by members of the famous Martin family. (vernis martin). She had Van Loo paint four images representing the arts; of architecture, of painting, of music, of sculpture, all of which were used as overdoors.

The garden at Bellevue was a dream of beauty, filled with china flowers that had come from the porcelain factory at Vincennes and smelt like real roses and the King was very taken with them.

The King also gave her the village of Sevres, which was just below her house at Bellevue,  She installed the china factory, which was transferred from Vincennes so she could have it under her own eye and direction.

Collection Sevres Porcelain - Rose Pompadour Ground Images by Boucher

Here it prospered greatly, and many great artists and sculptors of the day worked hard under her guidance.

The wonderful colours, Rose Pompadour, Bleu du Roi, Gros Bleu, Yellow and Apple green were invented; the shapes were original reminiscent of silver, with delicate biscuit figures by Pajou, Pigalle, Falconnet, Caffierie and so on and have indeed never been surpassed.

To French taste the products from Sevres porcelain factory were far superior to those at the German factory of Meissen.

Once a year a china sale was held at Versailles and in a room in the Kings apartments, where he would often act as salesmen.  Any bought during the period have proved an incredible investment.

The Marquise loved to engrave precious stones. This charming craft has left us with a record of their life together and are now housed in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris where there are seventy of them altogether.

Jean Marc Nattier 1748

Boucher was official painter to Madame Pompadour, Van Loo official painter to the court and she looked after the artists that enjoyed her patronage and saw they were always paid and for that alone they adored her.

From the moment of her arrival she directed and inspired everyone untiring in her efforts and quest for perfection and the result was that the arts reached a high point of excellence and beauty under her direct influence. For a long time she had unlimited credit as the King was happy to indulge her.

He now shared her love for beautiful objects and they were a hobby he could enjoy and discuss in safety.

Secrétaire à cylindre de Louis XV

His rooms were constantly altered and decorated and his visits to her rooms were exciting because there was always some new project on hand, with designs awaiting his approval, and things for him to purchase if he liked them.

Her love of reading influenced Louis and his library in Versailles contained what has become the most famous piece of furniture in the world, his desk. The Bureau du Roi was started c1760 by Jean-François Oeben master cabinet maker of the royal arsenal and finished in 1769 by his successor, Jean Henri Riesener. Covered with intricate marquetry

Jeanne Antoinette knew stories to amuse him and they read the press together; she recited speeches by heart giving him an interest in the theatre in short she turned the dull boring life of the court into one long source of happiness the only sad side was sexual.

Louis XV, the well beloved

Her health could not endure the continual love making which all the Bourbons seemed more than capable of, as it exhausted her. He is said to have ascended the stairs to her apartment sometimes nine times a day.

She worried herself sick with the thought that he would leave her and the death of her daughter at the age of ten was a crushing blow from which she never fully recovered. She had many miscarriages trying to give Louis a child eventually destroying her health, and although he finally drifted away from her bed they remained strong friends and he visited her daily.

He took other mistresses like the notorious Irish Louise O’ Murphy also immortalised by Boucher. However he always discussed everything with Reinette and her greatest faux paux was involving herself in politics, which earned her the hatred of the people,  the scorn of her enemies and many of the unpopular actions of the day were laid at her door.

Jeanne Antoinette and Abel, her brother discussing classical architecture

Mme de Pompadour realized a decorative style change relating to societal change from the frivolity of the rococo to the quiet elegance of neo classical architecture was inevitable and in 1749 when her brother Abel Poisson, the Marquis de Marigny left on a Grand Tour to Italy she gave him strict instructions to study classical ruins. She wanted to prepare him to take over the post of Directeur et Ordonnateur Général des Batiments, Jardins, Arts, Académies et Manufactures Royales, which he did in 1751 at the age of 25 and the department flourished under his management.

Louis XV chose architect Jacques Ange Gabriel (1698-1782), whom he had made Premier architect du Roi in 1742 to design the Petit Trianon in the grounds of Versailles. It was a building that broke right away from traditions established under the baroque and by way of contrast was a simple, prism with unbroken horizontal elements, relying completely on subtlety and restraint rather than a grand manner or effect.

Louis built it as a pleasure palace for himself and his favourite mistress, however death would intervene before it was completed.

Near the end...at her embroidery frame...by François-Hubert Drouais

In 1764 after an illness at Choisy the King brought Reinette back to Versailles where she made her will. He hardly left her room during her last days and not one word of complaint passed her lips. On Palm Sunday while the King was at church she sent for her priest and after hearing her confession he made to move toward the door. She is said to have called to him and said; ‘One moment M. le Cure we’ll go together’ and she died.

She was only 44 and the protocol of the court said that he could not attend her funeral. As the procession left for Paris the King reputedly stood on the balcony without coat or hat in a bitter wind until she was out of sight. It is said that tears poured down his cheeks. That is the only tribute I can pay her he was reputed to have said and, after she had gone a very great dullness fell upon the Chateau of Versailles.

The sale of her objects filled many houses to overflowing, furniture, china, statues, pictures, books, plants, jewels, linen, silver, carriages, horses, yards and yards of stuff, trunks full of dresses, cellars full of wine, over 3000 lots very few of which contained less than a dozen objects, and took two lawyers a year to record

Her books testified to her wide reading interests from the classics to French poetry, popular novels, fairy stories,  history, biographies, music, philosophy and the lives of famous writers. She had been a woman of influence and one of very great style.

Carolyn McDowall, 2010, 2011 ©The Culture Concept Circle

*Francois de la Rochefoucauld (1613-80)

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Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

It seems, to me, almost impossible that it is 20 years since the quietly spoken handsome young man from the USA arrived at Sydney to add his talents to the interior design pool in Australia.

Well qualified in America Thomas Hamel trained with two well known international designers before working for the renowned interior design firm of Parish Hadley Associates, one of whose directors was the wonderfully eccentric ecclesiastically named Sister Parish (1910-1994 ).

‘She who must be obeyed’ had been the first home grown American designer to produce interiors within the classically elegant White House, although later usurped by a designer from foreign climes, much to the chagrin of locals.

When Thomas arrived in Sydney his presence did not generate that sort of emotion because by then he was a truly internationally inspiring design personality with a mature outlook, well able to cope with the locals, as well as make a few specialized moves himself. He made the creative world sit up and notice when he painted one of Sydney’s landmark buildings under renovation, a fabulous earthy green.

Parish Hadley had been renowned for its combined savoir flair and reputation for providing liveable interiors. With Thomas that had obviously made an impression, as evidenced in Residence his first landmark publication.

Residence splendidly showcases his ability to produce an interior that, while it accommodates the needs of the client in a timelessly elegant and unforgettable way, also provides evidence that Thomas Hamel uses just the right amount of depth and resonance as an essential aspect of its ingredients.

Like a recipe for unforgettable cuisine, Thomas carefully crafts and stylishly shapes his interiors to suit their occupants, providing an aesthetically pleasing built environment that allows them to live out their daily lives effortlessly. I am sure they must all feel very privileged to have him as their designer.

This beautiful illustrated volume provides an insight into some of his favourite projects, offering a breathtaking view of magnificent homes from a harbour-front villa and bayside Italianate residence in Melbourne, to a stylish retreat in Florida and a French farmhouse in Luberon. Chapters are accompanied by a description of the design process used in each transformation.

It is very well done Mr Hamel.

To purchase the book at the best possible price www.bookoffers.com.au

Photograph Thomas Hamel by Lord Lichfield

Carolyn McDowall July 2010

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