Victoriana

Matthew Williams, Curator of Cardiff Castle, described the prejudices against Victoriana and the changing tastes which have helped come to its rescue. Think oversize furniture, excessive decoration, mahogany, rosewood, walnut, veneers, gilding, showy craftsmanship and clutter ; features which became objects of derision by the 1920s. Nancy Mitford’s first book was a send up of Victoriana and the pre-Raphaelites. Collecting was seen as amusing in the 1930s but national museums were not interested and few bothered to write scholarly articles. The British often like to furnish their homes with echoes of the past but Victoriana was passed by. During this period Victorian art, furniture and textiles were of little value as collectors’ items. After the War people began to look again at the artefacts of the nineteenth century empire. In part this interest was utilitarian. There was a furniture famine. Victorian wardrobes and cupboards were relatively cheap: if they were too big they could be cut down to size by the forefathers of the DIY age. Improvements in paint technology made it possible to re-vitalise dull Victorian browns. Respectability emerged alongside. The first exhibition of Victorian and Edwardian decorative arts was held in 1952 at the V & A, reviving now familiar names of the period. A nineteenth century gallery was opened in 1960. American interest gave strength to the market. In1958 the Victorian Society emerged to help prevent the demolition of municipal and domestic buildings of the era. By the early 1970s Victorian art and design had become a serious subject for study. Television played its part. Series such as The Forsyte Saga had an impact on people’s perceptions of the period as a social history time capsule, both above and below stairs. William Morris wallpapers and textiles became a backcloth to suburban bliss. At a local level, Matthew Williams reminded us that we have National Trust properties such as Knightshayes and Tyntesfield in the south west, the former having been restored to its Victorian roots, the latter an unusual survivor in its original tapestry.