MIXED FABRICS

time of Queen Elizabeth. Its fleurs semies and slashings suggestan Italian loom, probably Venetian.

Plate 53 is from a magnificent set of bedroom hangings incoloured velvet, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. This setconsists of twelve lengths, twelve feet long and twenty-two incheswide; six gilded chairs and a couch are also covered with the samesumptuous fabric.

The ornamentation is characteristic of the later fabrics of Italy,

having a somewhat natural treatmentof the flowers and a lace-like arrange-ment of the ground shapes.

A letter written by Sir ThomasRobinson in 1731, describing a visit toHoughton Hall, built by Ripley for SirRobert Walpole in 1722, throws aninstructive light upon the furnishing ofa house with such velvets, and alsoupon the social customs of the period.

“ Houghton is the best of its sizein capability for reception and con-veniency of state appartments, thefurnishing of the inside is a pattern forall great houses.

“ The vast quantities of mahogani;finest chimneys of statuary; ceilings ofthe modern taste by Italians; furnitureby Mr. William Kent, carved and finelygilt; walls hung with Genoa velvets anddamask, and so plentiful, that this onearticle is the price of a good house, forin the saloon they are to the value of£3000.”

Fig. 38 is a drawing of this specificexample, which still covers the walls and the furniture of the saloonat Houghton.

Horatio Walpole, brother of Sir Robert, employed Ripley, in1724, to build Wolterton House, Norfolk, and in the west drawing-room the furniture and the walls are covered with Genoa velvetcorresponding to that of Houghton. Other examples are in thesaloon, the drawing-room, and the green state room at Holkham,which was built by William Kent in 1734, for Coke of Norfolk.

These give some idea of the extensive use of such fabrics duringthe early 18th century in England.

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Fig. 38. —Genoese Velvet. LateXVII Century. Baroque style.

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