Cover image: Armchair, possibly by Gustav Herter, American (probably New York), c. 1855. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Photo via metmuseum.org (CC0 1.0).
My Gothic Revival furniture project is coming along really well. I have a sloppy but complete first draft and am currently editing. In the meantime, I wanted to show you one of the pieces I will be talking about in my discussion.
Seriously, how cool is this chair? It is difficult to look at it without feeling transported to another era, which I suppose is the whole point of the Gothic Revival. It is also one of the reasons why I’m so interested in this style; it is able to make me think of two fascinating times and places at once – the middle ages in Europe and the mid nineteenth century in New York. I would like to think that whoever purchased it felt like some kind of ancient royalty every time he or she sat down in it.
Leave a Reply