The Gothic revival

Magazine Antiques, April, 2006 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

In 1858 the American painter Jasper Francis Cropsey, then residing in London, wrote in his journal that he had just purchased a copy of "'The merrie days of England' the last new illustrated book out, because of its use to me in suggestion of sports, pastimes, tournaments & c of the olden times of England." By May 1859 he had sold a pair of paintings entitled The Olden Times, one subtitled Morning (Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings on Hudson, New York) the other Evening (private collection), to the American collector William T. Blodgett of New York City, confirming the usefulness of that volume. Cropsey was responding to the vogue for romantic literature and all things medieval in literary and artistic circles in England, on the Continent, and in the United States. In the arts, this period is known as the Gothic revival.

Actually there were two Gothic revivals. The first, which occurred in the mid- to late eighteenth century, is generally regarded as a more playful and less cerebral adaptation of Gothic motifs, much in the way that designers mixed all sorts of Asian motifs and created chinoiserie--a whimsical style if ever there was one. The second Gothic revival is usually seen as a more archaeologically correct interpretation of medieval art and architecture in which designers and architects borrowed, and more faithfully reproduced, motifs that defined the architecture and arts of that earlier age. This Gothic revival is the subject of an exhibition on view at Hirschl and Adler Galleries in New York City from April 15 through June 9. In Pointed Style: The Gothic Revival in America, 1800-1860 includes some one hundred paintings, drawings, furniture, lighting devices, porcelain, glass, silver, and other metalwork.

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The fascination with the Middle Ages was most evident in romantic literature, art, and architecture. From there it filtered down to the decorative arts so that chairs, tables, sugar bowls, and the like were ornamented with elements from stained-glass windows, tracery, clustered columns, trefoils and quatrefoils, and other motifs found in the Gothic cathedrals of continental Europe, particularly France. The great cathedrals of Amiens, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, and Reims had recently been or were in the process of being restored by the French architect, writer, lecturer, medievalist, and head of the Office of Historic Monuments, Eugene Emmanuel Violletle-Duc. His many publications included a ten-volume dictionary of architecture (published 1854-1868) and a dictionary of French furniture (published 1858-1875), which treats furniture made from the dawn of the Carolingian era through the Renaissance. In England, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and others had earlier issued similar studies. Pugin's Gothic Furniture in the Style of the Fifteenth Century, published in 1835, contained twenty-five pages of plates of furniture etched by the author. The Gothic revival style spread to the United States from England through such publications and prints. In 1847, for example, the prolific cabinetmaker, John Jelliff of Newark, New Jersey, made a series of sketches we know were taken from Pugin's plates because the sheet is inscribed "Pugin on Gothic Furniture." References to Gothic, or Gothick, can be found in cabinet- and chair-makers' advertisements, price books, and other documents. Gothic motifs are found most frequently on furniture made in New York City and Philadelphia, which were centers for the style. Mass production of objects incorporating Gothic decoration was essentially limited to glass; surviving pieces of Gothic revival metalwork are relatively rare.

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The style appealed to the educated upper classes of American society, and the objects they purchased most frequently found their way into libraries and halls, which were thought to be the most appropriate repositories. The Gothic revival enjoyed a heyday for a relatively short time, as it was completely eclipsed by the advent of the Civil War. It would be mined yet again when the arts and crafts community, led by William Morris, promoted handwork in response to the dehumanization of mass production. Then, in the late 1970s, scholars and collectors rediscovered the Gothic revival, and now another wave of interest, expressed in exhibitions and publications, has once again brought the style to the fore.

The catalogue of the exhibition is written by David B. Warren, with contributions by Stuart P. Feld, Elizabeth Feld, Eric Baumgartner, Joseph Goddu, and Zachary Ross. The catalogue is available from this magazine (see page 92) or by telephoning Hirschl and Adler Galleries at 212-535-8810.