The Georgia Dining Room revisited - Winterthur - Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

Magazine Antiques, Jan, 2002 by Tara L. Gleason

(10.) Eliza Leslie, The House Book: Or, a Manual or Domestic Economy for Town and Country, 5th ed. (Philadelphia, 1841), p. 172.

(11.) Although the plaster beneath the wallpaper fragments was quite clean when the pieces were found in 1972, suggesting that the paper was installed soon after the completion of the house in the 1830s, new analysis in 1998 revealed that the wallpaper dated sometime after 1890. Curators, conservators, and paper and wallpaper consultants examined the decoration, style, and composition of the paper in 1998. See Landrey, "Georgia Dining Room Technical Update," pp. 1--2: Talbott, "Furnishing the Georgia Dining Room," p. 8; Walter J. Rantanen, fiber identification report by Integrated Paper Services, July 15,1998 (noncurrent office records, box 2237, Winterthur archives).

(12.) It was also consistent with the possible use of wallpaper, but there was no further evidence of wallpaper use, as discussed in n. 11. Concrete evidence of all of these treatments was often lost through wear, washing, or through being removed prior to a new application of paint or paper. See Carlson, "Analytical Report," pp. 1-3. Discrete samples of the ground and each paint layer from the plaster wall sample were subjected to FTIR-microspectroscopy (diamond cell), energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis (carbon target), and SEM-EDS. All layers of the cross section except the underlying plaster contained modem materials including titanium, indicating that they postdated 1920. See Landrey, "Georgia Dining Room Technical Update,' pp. 1-2.

(13.) John Claudius Loudon, Encyclopaedia of Collage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture... (London, 1839), p. 94.

(14.) Because of the highly corrosive nature of whitewash, a treatment that simulates the appearance of whitewash was used in the Georgia Dining Room.

(15.) See, for example, London, Encyclopaedia, p. 178; Thomas Webster, An Encyclopaedia of Domestic Economy... (New York, 1845), p. 251; and Leslie, House Book, pp. 171-172, 179.

(16.) Leslie, House Book, p. 179.

(17.) The following images depict rooms that have scarlet curtains with gold fringe: Mary Ellen Best's painting Our Dining Room at York (1838), which is illustrated in Caroline Davidson. The World of Mary Ellen Best (Hogarth Press, London, 1985), P1. 103. Henry Sargent. The Dinner Party (c. 1820; Museum of Fine Arts. Boston) and Frederick R. Spencer, Family Group (1840; Brooklyn Museum of Art), both illustrated in Elisabeth Donaghy Garrett, At Home: The American Family 1750-1870 (Hany N. Abrams. New York, 1990), pp.55,81; See also Loudon. Encyclopaedia, p. 178.

(18.) See, for example, Leslie, House Book, pp. 171-172, 179; Webster, Encyclopaedia of Domestic Economy, p. 251; Davidson, World of Mary Ellen Best, P1. 103.

(19.) A Lady [Maria Wilson?], The Workwoman's Guide, containing instructions... (London and Birmingham, 1838), p.205; Leslie, House Book, pp. 188-90; and Webster, Encyclopaedia of Domestic Economy, p. 253.

(20.) Nirenstein, With Kindly Voices, p. 104.