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Renaissance Revival Parlor, 1868–70. American. Gift of Mrs. Josephine M. Fiala, 1968 (68.143.7).
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Renaissance Revival Style
Described in an 1870 newspaper as built in the "Franco-Italian villa style," the Wilcox house today may be characterized as Second Empire, a reference to the reign of Napoleon III (1852–70). This style was thought to convey authority, affluence, and a cosmopolitan outlook; as such, it was popular for government and institutional buildings as well as domestic structures in both the United States and abroad. The identifying features of the style, which was inspired by the architecture of sixteenth-century France, are the mansard roof and the stepping out of the central block of the building to break up the elevation symmetrically. The Wilcox house deviated slightly from the style, in that the mass of the building to the right of the central tower extended farther than the central block. This asymmetry relates closely to the design of Italianate villas of the 1850s.
This rear parlor, referred to as the "sitting room" in the newspaper article mentioned above, was described as "fitted up in the Marie Antoinette style of art." Today, the term Renaissance Revival encompasses a number of such French revival styles. Furniture makers of the period strove to follow French models and reinterpret designs fashionable from the reign of Louis XIV (1638–1715) through that of Louis XVI (1774–92). Such furnishings were considered appropriate for the homes of the very rich. The Wilcox furniture is attributed to John Jelliff and Company, a leading cabinetmaking firm based in Newark, New Jersey. Jeliff parlor suites were sold under such French-sounding names as "Grand Duchesse," "Pompadour," and "Marie Antoinette."
The suite of furniture (which probably included at least two more chairs and a matching center table), the mirror, and the window cornices are of carved rosewood decorated with incised and gilded designs and embellished with mother-of-pearl medallions carved with classical heads in profile. The Egyptian Revival table of rosewood and walnut with porcelain plaques and gilt-bronze mounts was probably made by the New York City firm of Pottier and Stymus and is not original to the room. Egyptian design motifs are also seen in the Tiffany and Company clock and obelisks decorating the mantel. The twelve-branch chandelier with matching wall sconces, attributed to the New York City lighting firm of Mitchell, Vance and Company, restates aspects of the classical and neo-Grec design motifs found throughout the room.
The Museum's parlor was described in the 1870 newspaper article as having "crimson curtains, [the] sofas, lounges, chairs, and furniture generally being covered with scarlet satin." None of the original textiles from the house has survived; a modern red fabric in a satin weave was used to replicate the furniture coverings and the heavily fringed and tasseled draperies. The design of the elaborate valence is based on European pattern books of the period. The rug is a reproduction of a wall-to-wall carpet in a Renaissance Revival design that dates to the same period and was ordered from Paris in 1867 by the Tredwell family of New York City for their brownstone, today known as the Old Merchant's House. The decorative painted and gilded plaster ceiling and cornices, with bouquets of flowers, trompe-l'oeil rosettes, and stenciled and gilded quatrefoils, are attributed in the newspaper article to local artist Bela Carter. Such decorative painting was featured in the most fashionable houses of the day.
