Monthly Inspiration: Victorian Furniture

So I've talked about Rococo furniture and I've talked about Baroque furniture.  Now, I'm going to talk about Victorian furniture.  A lot of times people get it confused with Rococo and Baroque.  Hopefully I've given you  a better idea of what the differences are.  There are many reproductions or revival pieces of Victorian furniture, but the genuine pieces are from around 1850-1910.  The name would then stem from Queen Victoria of the UK. Whereas it's probably pretty difficult to find or even afford a genuine piece of Rococo or Baroque furniture, owning a genuine piece of Victorian furniture is more feasible.

 This was not a time of minimalistic tastes.  I would describe the Victorian era furniture as "beautiful clutter." There had been a lot of different changes with furniture before the Victorian era and also remember that depictions varied by country.  But by the time the Victorian era rolled around they were going back to the designs of Rococo and Neoclassical and even Gothic and Asian.  Staples of Victorian furniture are curvy but heavy lines, ornate tufted upholstery, and painted or stained furniture.  But there were even different styles of Victorian furniture within that period and it is hard to pinpoint just one influence. There were also a lot of new techniques of furniture making being used at this time.  The Victorians loved to ebonized their furniture.  That's why you can tell a lot of times when something is painted black that it may be from the Victorian era.

The great thing about Victorian furniture was that a lot of it was not just made in Europe but the US as well. You can find many Victorian style "doll house" homes in the US.  My wedding happened to be at a Victorian Museum in Pennsylvania.  I was a little obsessed with this Rococo inspired Victorian settee.  You can see more images from my Victorian inspired wedding here.

Woods of choice were Mahogany, Walnut, and Rosewood.  Some pioneers of Victorian furniture were:

• Charles Eastlake of America.  He strayed from Rococo style
• John Belter of America.  He loved Rococo style
• Alexander Roux of France.  Rococo style.
• R. J. Horner of America.  Loved elaborate detail.
• William Wooton of America.  Loved Secretary Desks!
• George Hunzinger of Germany.  Renaissance Revival Style.
• Holland and Sons of England. Known for Gothic Revival.
• Gillows of England.  Produced many Victorian styles of furniture.

Here are a few pieces of genuine Victorian furniture:

Pair of Rosewood Victorian Balloon Back Type Chairs from 1850

Victorian carved Walnut Army Chair from 1850

 American Victorian Mantel and Mirror from 1880

 

Victorian Walnut Bedframe from 1870

Ebonized Victorian Writing Desk

Here's a great cheat sheet to see if what you have is Victorian or a repro.  But buying a fantastic revival or repro is often more affordable and equally pleasing to the eye.  It just depends, I would say, if you are more of an Antique Collector or Interior Designer.  If all else fails take it to be appraised.  And you might want to think twice before you paint over a genuine piece.

Do you own any genuine pieces of Victorian furniture? 

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