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The Dining Room restored to the 1815 scheme showing the new carpet.
Photo courtesy of Ralph Harvard, Ralph Harvard Inc. |
One of the most popular posts of
The Devoted Classicist blog has been
Historic Paint Color At Monticello which presents the re-creation of the 1815 chrome-yellow paint scheme for the Dining Room. One of the pleasures of authoring a blog is making new acquaintances, and hearing from old ones. So it was a great treat to get an email from the distinguished New York City designer Ralph Harvard, of
Ralph Harvard Inc., an Attingham graduate that I had met just prior to my own wonderful educational experience at the school. Ralph read my essay on the paint color and thought the Devoted Readers would appreciate seeing the carpet he designed for the Dining Room. I am sure that will be the case.
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A detail of the new Dining Room carpet at Monticello.
Photo courtesy of Ralph Harvard, Ralph Harvard Inc. |
The new carpet was based on the documentation from the original order that Jefferson placed for a carpet in Abeville, France in the 1780s according to Ralph Harvard. No examples from this period survive from the factory, this so this design is an interpretation. But it is known that the moquette (cut velvet-like pile) carpets produced there were hand-woven wool on linen, the loom-width strips sewn together to make wall-to-wall or room size carpets, Harvard said. He added that the Abbeville carpets were in the British taste, small patterned and without extravagant colors.
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A cartoon for the new carpet's border showing yarn samples.
Photo courtesy of Ralph Hardvard, Ralph Harvard Inc |
Jefferson's carpet was not wall-to-wall, so Harvard duplicated the original dimensions but added a neutral border to increase the size to protect the floor and keep the edges from curling up.
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The model for the new carpet's border.
Photo courtesy of Ralph Harvard, Ralph Harvard Inc. |
The Devoted Classicist thinks it is particularly remarkable that the 1815 scheme for the Monticello Dining Room is so in keeping with today's taste: a testament to the timelessness of classic residential design.
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The Dining Room of Monticello restored to the 1815 scheme.
Photo: Philip Beaurline for Thomas Jefferson Foundation. |
And again, special thanks to Mr. Ralph Harvard for sharing this very interesting update to the previous post.
This is a glorious room and one I have never seen. We had a chrome-yellow room in Amsterdam which glowed as does the dining room at Monticello - a wonderfully alive colour.
ReplyDeleteYou remember, I think, the popularity of yellow in the 1980s? Nancy Lancaster's Brook Street salon was a revelation when it was first published and gave rise to many a bastardized version. It was the era of faux finishes and it got to the point when if I felt that if I saw another "Tuscan" faded wall finish or a washed and glazed yellow room I'd start breaking something. Now yellow is not often seen but the room above proves, at least to me, how contemporary it can be.
It was shortly after the rage for yellow that everything turned neutral - Lynn Revson's place by Mark Hampton sticks in my mind as the beginning of the demise of colour.
Blue, while I have nothing against a neutral scheme in general, I feel the neutrals have been grossly over-represented by the shelter magazines trying to appeal to a Do-It-Yourself readership. And, of course, it is interesting to note that the adjacent small dining room, used in warm weather, has a neutral scheme.
ReplyDeleteBut before we leave the topic of acquaintances, I feel I know you because of your wonderful blog "The Blue Remembered Hills" although we have never met face to face. I think you were the first to add The Devoted Classicist to your Blog Roll, and the stats show that a significant number of readers still come via your site. With some popular blogs recently ending (despite one having a great deal to say and another perhaps having little interesting to say anyway), let's carry on the conversations, shall we?
John, thank you. I too feel we know each other though, as you say, we have never met - not yet at least. I think I was the first to add you to a blog-roll and it was I think because you and I had already corresponded and I learned from you.
DeleteI haven't any plans to stop this blog - the conversation than ensues is much too interesting for that.
Most visitors to Monticello don't realize that what the tourist sees was not quite what a visitor in Jefferson's own time would have experienced. There's a most interesting little book, edited by Merrill D. Peterson in 1989, titled "Visitors to Monticello." It's a collection of recollections of Monticello visitors through the years, including when Jefferson was living. And what comes through loud and clear is that while Monticello was probably America's most elegant house, it was under perpetual construction. In any given year, it seems, there was at least one area of the house being remodeled or repaired, and of course it is that endless tinkering that makes the house such an inspiration today.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mark. Although Monticello is a house that I would appreciate even if it were empty, I applaud their efforts for making the presentation as educational as possible.
DeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteHow would you compare or contrast this color to the Nancy Lancaster room at Colefax Fowler, London? The rug interpretation by Mr. Harvard is so beautiful, would love to see it "in person". I still vivdly recall when I apprenticed at The American Museum in Britain at Claverton Manor, near Bath, and the director, Mr. Ian McCallum had his office there painted in this brilliant chrome yellow. Dean Farris
Dean, I think the chrome-yellow in Monticello's Dining Room is like the artist paint color, just like you could mix (or squirt from a tube). It has a clear brightness that can really reflect light beautifully.
DeleteA few years ago, I had a conversation with Martin Wood who wrote a book on both John Fowler and Nancy Lancaster. I asked him about the paint color of the famous room, and was it me, or had the color changed between the first time that I saw it in the mid 1980s and the last time, about 20 years later. He told me that it had indeed been repainted, or I should say reglazed, which consisted of a base color, translucent glaze, and glossy finish. Martin said that, despite trying to replicate the original, the result was not a match.
But to answer your question, the yellow at Monticello and the yellow of Nancy Lancaster's room are not comparable, in my opinion. But there are some Devoted Readers that might have an interesting opinion; let's hope they'll comment.
I too had a similar conversation about the Brook Street room with Martin Wood but have wondered since how dissimilar the walls could be or even if it mattered.
DeleteWhat kind of paint was used in the yellow room at Monticello? Was it a kind of whitewash, tinted, a recreation of an 18th-century paint, or a modern latex? I cannot imagine that it would be a latex paint given its poor surface and opacity.
Our room in Amsterdam, I mention above, was washed twice with dilute Chrome Yellow gouache, varnished.to a high gloss and had a lovely dappled life to it.
The walls of Mrs Lancaster's drawing room had an entirely different effect,
Deletebeing considerably less harsh than the Chrome Yellow selected for the
dining room at Monticello. As you point out, the Avery Row walls were glazed as opposed to being covered with straight undiluted paint. A former member of the Colefax & Fowler paint studio gave the formula as "a pale yellow undercoat, followed by a glaze mixture of lemon chrome, raw sienna, raw umber and black. Several coats of varnish were then applied, to produce a glossy finish."
Blue, as I am not certain in the case of Monticello, I will withhold even guessing. I will share from my experience in consultation with museums, however, that the reproduction of paint formulas are sometimes prohibited for environmental and public safety reasons.
DeleteAnd for all you Devoted Readers interested in the light reflective quality of the wall color, keep in mind that there is a skylight in the Dining Room. Although not seen in these photos, a corner of the skylight can be seen in one of the images in the earlier post, linked in the text (and the POPULAR POSTS sidebar).
Thank you, Toby, for your comments. I value your contribution as an authority on John Fowler color and paint techniques (in addition to numerous other subjects).
At risk of running this topic into the ground, when Nancy Lancaster's room
Deletewas first done up in the late 1950s the walls were very likely dragged
(this is discernible in the Derry Moore photographs taken before Mrs
Lancaster moved out) whereas the more recent finish is a very fine stipple,
less textured- and the color is more lemon than egg yolk. Probably of interest
only to eggheads like myself.
Thanks, Toby. Those are important points in evaluating a paint finish. The small details can make a big difference in the overall effect.
DeleteI Love that yellow. Thanks. Mary
ReplyDeleteI agree; it's a great color. The room can handle it. Thanks, Mary.
DeleteI commented on picture placements in one of your recent blogs about the White House, and here too I am surprised by the strange arrangement above the alcove. Perhaps it's a work in progress?
ReplyDeleteThe carpet is beautiful, and its colours and that of the walls are very complementary.
Columnist, I have wondered about certainly seems to be the location of a missing painting. (We know what I mean, don't we?). I don't know the answer. Perhaps someone will fill us in.
DeleteI am mad to return to Monticello, and also take in Poplar Forest, which I have never seen, except on its website. Same goes for Montpelier. We are discussing an autumn visit to see each of these houses, and I am determined to make this happen. A reader of mine, LizaE, made the pilgrimage a month or so ago, and said it was divine. Thanks for this post, another one in your marvelous series. Reggie
ReplyDeleteReggie, as lines for general admission can be very, very long, I recommend being at Monticello itself when it opens, and saving the Visitor's Center (at the foot of the "mountain") for last. There are sometimes special tours that allow entrance to the Dome Room, for example, so you might want to look into that in advance.
DeleteHello, Devoted --
ReplyDeleteI am a new reader via Pigtown. Delighted to find your blog, as I am a fan of Classical and Neoclassical architecture, design, furnishings, antiques, etc. Especially Scandinavian related. It's been too long since I've visited Monticello. I once had a bathroom painted chrome yellow.....with accents of black and white. Some days I loved it....some not. Think I'll visit Monticello this autumn to experience the yellow in person.
Cheers from DC,
Loi
Loi, I am glad we found each other's blog! I once had a Manhattan townhouse architectural project where the decorator elaborately glazed (at an enormous cost) the panelled walls of the windowless Master Bathroom bright yellow to contrast with the black & white marble floor; the owners were not happy after moving in and living with it for a while. Yellow can be more tricky than most realize. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteI am glad to visit your blog. its really great information about new carpet and it is good for me before buy new carpet from market. carpet cleaning sierra madre
ReplyDelete