Style Guide: all'Antica
Renaissance art ‘all’antica’ (in the Antique style) took much of its inspiration from the sculpture, buildings and writings of the classical world. The style first develope…
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Style Guide: Chinese and Indian Style
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 i…
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Style Guide: Chinoiserie
Chinoiserie, from 'chinois' the French for Chinese, was a style inspired by art and design from China, Japan and other Asian countries. The style was at its height from 175…
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Style Guide: Classical and Renaissance Revival
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…
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Style Guide: French Style
French Style was a revival of styles that had been fashionable in France between 1660 and 1790. It represented luxury and glamour and was the most popular commercial style …
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Style Guide: Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival was one of the most influential design styles of the 19th century. Designs were based on forms and patterns used in the Middle Ages. Serious study was combin…
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Style Guide: Influence of India
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.
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Style Guide: Influence of Islam
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, …
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Style Guide: Influence of Japan
The arts of Japan had a profound influence on British culture in the second half of the 19th century. Japanese art was very different from anything being produced in Britai…
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Style Guide: Jacobean
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 a…
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Style Guide: Mannerism
Mannerism is the term often given to a style of Renaissance art and architecture that began in the courts of Italy in about 1520, then spread throughout Europe and lasted u…
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Style Guide: Medieval Revivals
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 nostalg…
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Style Guide: Neo-classicism
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 …
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Style Guide: Palladianism
Palladianism is a style based on the designs of the 16th-century Italian architect, Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). It was fashionable from about 1715 to 1760
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Style Guide: Regency Classicism
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.
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Style Guide: Renaissance Influences from Beyond Europe
Initially, the lands around the Islamic cultures of the Mediterranean were the main source of imported luxury goods. This changed in the 16th century, when Europeans establ…
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Style Guide: Restoration
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.
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Style Guide: Rococo
The Rococo style was used primarily in furniture, silver and ceramics, rather than architecture. It takes its name from the French rocaille (pronounced 'rock-eye'), which m…
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Style Guide: Romanesque
Romanesque is a modern term describing the art and architecture produced in Western Europe in the period 1000-1200
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Style Guide: Scottish School
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 decor…
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Surrealism & Design
Surrealism is one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century. The term was first coined in 1917 by the art critic and poet Guillaume Apollinaire, and in 1924…
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A to Z of Hollywood Style
A to Z of Hollywood Style brings together style advice from the good, the bad and the beautiful to explore the allure of some of the world’s…
Buy nowEvent - Courtly Style: Tudor and Stuart Dress
Sat 01 June 2013 10:00
STUDY DAY: Explore the many exquisite materials, styles and accessories associated with Tudor and Stuart dress in a day organised to coincide with the V&A's Royal Treasures: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars and the Royal Collection's In Fine Style: Tudor and Stuart Dress.
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