Understanding Styles

Renaissance Style Guide

The Renaissance style was inspired by the art and architecture of ancient Rome. It originated in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread across the whole of Europe. The new styles of decoration came to England in the 16th century. Engraved books of Renaissance motifs provided an important source for English designers. Foreign artists and artisans working in London were also influential in introducing the style.

Jacobean Style Guide

The reign of James I of England (VI of Scotland) is known as the Jacobean period. Printed sources of designs and motifs from Europe were plentiful and imports from as far away as Asia fired the imagination of designers. Luxury goods were rich in design and extravagant in material, while court architecture reflected a move towards a new, more restrained Classical style.

Restoration Style Guide

In 1649 Charles I was executed. During the period 1649 to 1660, England was a Republic governed by Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector. The restoration of Charles I's son, Charles II, to the throne in 1660 ushered in a period of great opulence in English art, architecture and design. Charles II and his followers had spent the years of exile in France and The Netherlands and on their return brought with them a taste for the latest European styles. Foreign-trained artists and craftspeople working in England also used flamboyant forms and rich materials.

Baroque Style Guide

The exuberant Baroque style originated in Italy and influenced all of Europe. English designers found new ideas in printed books of Continental ornament. Dutch and French craftspeople who settled in England also had a great influence on the development of the style. A sense of drama and a love of the ornate characterise the Baroque. Interiors were luxurious with rich velvet and damask furnishings and gilt-wood and marquetry furniture. The style remained fashionable until about 1725.

Rococo Style Guide

Rococo takes its name from the French rocaille (pronounced 'rock-eye'), which means the rock or broken shell motifs that often formed part of the designs. The Rococo style was used primarily in furniture, silver and ceramics, rather than architecture. Rococo was fashionable from about 1730 to 1770.

Palladianism Style Guide

Palladianism is a style based on the designs of the 16th-century Italian architect, Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). Palladio was inspired by the buildings of ancient Rome. In turn, British designers drew on Palladio's work to create a Classical British style. Palladian exteriors were plain and based on rules of proportion. By contrast, the interiors were richly decorated. Palladianism was fashionable from about 1715 to 1760.

Chinoiserie Style Guide

Chinoiserie, from 'chinois' the French for Chinese, was a style inspired by art and design from China, Japan and other Asian countries. In the 18th century porcelain, silk and lacquerware imported from China and Japan were extremely fashionable. This led many British designers and craftsmen to imitate Asian designs and to create their own fanciful versions of the East. The style was at its height from 1750 to 1765.

Neo-Classicism Style Guide

Neo-classicism was a style that emerged in Britain and France in the 1750s. Artists and architects sought to create an eternally valid 'true style' that could be expressed across all areas of the visual arts. The style was based on the designs of Classical Greece and Rome. A major source of inspiration came from archaeological discoveries such as those made at Herculaneum and Pompeii which brought the ancient world to life.

Regency Classicism Style Guide

Classicism was the most fashionable style in Britain during the Regency period. Forms and motifs from ancient Greece and Rome were the basis of the style. To these were added elements taken from nature, from the arts of ancient Egypt and from French design of the mid-18th century. The combination of different patterns and colours made Regency Classicism a visually rich style.

Chinese and Indian Style Guide

Designs influenced by Chinese and Indian art and architecture were extremely popular in the early 19th century. The renewed interest in the East was stimulated by objects imported from Asia and by newly-published books on India and China. The scenes illustrated in these volumes provided British designers and manufacturers with fresh sources of inspiration.

Medieval Revivals Style Guide

The Medieval Revivals style was inspired by architecture and decorative arts from 1000-1600. The interest in Norman, Gothic and Jacobean styles reflected a romantic nostalgia for Britain's past. This was coupled with an increasingly serious study of actual Medieval buildings and furnishings. The Medieval Revivals style first developed in the mid-18th century. By the 1790s it had become an important alternative to classical styles.

Gothic Revival Style Guide

Gothic Revival was the most influential style of the 19th century. Designs were based on forms and patterns used in the Middle Ages. Serious study was combined with a more fanciful, romantic vision of Medieval chivalry and romance. A wide range of religious, civic and domestic buildings were built and furnished in the Gothic Revival style, which flourished from 1830 to1900.

French Style Style Guide

French Style was a revival of styles that had been fashionable in France between 1660 and 1790. This taste was fuelled by the arrival in Britain of art dispersed after the French Revolution of 1789. The French Style represented luxury and glamour and was the most popular commercial style in Britain from about 1835 to 1880.

Classical and Renaissance Revival Style Guide

There was an enormous revival of interest in Classical and Renaissance art from about 1850. Archaeological discoveries in Greece, Italy and Egypt fuelled the imagination of designers. Renaissance art and architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries, itself inspired by ancient Rome, also had a great influence. Classical and Renaissance pieces were sometimes copied quite closely, but often a variety of forms and motifs were combined or reinterpreted.

More on Classical and Renaissance Revival Style Guide

Aestheticism Style Guide

Aestheticism was an approach to life based on the philosophy of 'art for art's sake'. It emphasised the importance of art above everything else and the pleasure to be found in beautiful things. Aetheticism was a complex mixture of a number of styles. Classical and Japanese art were particular inspirations. It was fashionable from 1870 to 1900.

Influence of India Style Guide

India had special significance in 19th-century Britain. It was the key possession of the British Empire and many goods were made there for the British market. The rich displays of Indian art and design shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and at subsequent exhibitions influenced a number of British designers and commentators in the second half of the 19th century.

Influence of China Style Guide

The influence of China was seen in British design from the late 17th century onwards. The Chinoiserie style, as it was known, was still in use in the 19th century for objects made for the popular market. The expansion of British diplomatic, trade and religious activity in China in the 1850s and 1860s re-awakened people's interest in the 'Celestial Empire' and brought previously unknown examples of Chinese art and design to the attention of British collectors and designers. Chinese ceramics, in particular, had a great influence on British potters.

Influence of Islam Style Guide

The arts of the Islamic world became increasingly influential from the 1840s. The complex religious and historical factors influencing the appearance of objects from Iran, Turkey, north Africa and southern Spain were seldom understood, but such works were deeply admired for their technical and aesthetic brilliance. Colours, patterns and motifs from a variety of sources were used to create a composite 'Islamic' style.

Influence of Japan Style Guide

The arts of Japan had a profound influence on British culture in the second half of the 19th century. For a long time only the Dutch had been allowed to trade with Japan, but in the 1850s the country opened her ports to other foreign powers, including Britain. Large numbers of Japanese objects were subsequently imported into Britain. Japanese art was very different from anything being produced in this country. It provided a major source of inspiration for many artists and designers in the period from 1850 to 1900.

Arts and Crafts Style Guide

Arts and Crafts style developed in the 1860s as a reaction against the growing industrialisation of Victorian Britain. Those involved believed in the equality of all the arts and the importance and pleasure of work. The appearance of the style resulted from the principles involved in the making of the objects. By the end of the century such ideals had affected the design and manufacture of all the decorative arts in Britain.

The Scottish School Style Guide

The Scottish School was a group of artists and designers who established a new and strikingly modern style in the 1880s. They worked in Glasgow and Edinburgh creating decorative schemes in which architecture, interior design, furniture and fittings harmonised. They aimed to produce objects and environments that were suited to contemporary cosmopolitan life. The Scottish School style was fashionable from 1885 to 1915.

HISTORY, PERIODS & STYLES