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| Via Bing AI - "create an image of a spooky Victorian living room" |
Arnold Bennett – The Pretty Lady (1918)
I’ve sometimes wondered why the middle class Victorian and Edwardian interior décor was so crammed with furniture, knick-knacks, pictures, photos and general clutter. No doubt there were a number of reasons but in this quote, Bennett offers the idea that some people wished to feel they were within an interior — inside something.
Yet that feeling being inside something could apply to a school, public library, garden shed, tent or even a police station. Peering out of a window at rain, snow, fog or darkness or sitting by a flickering fire can accentuate the feeling too. Doesn’t necessarily need loads of furniture, although furnishings do accentuate the difference between inside and outside.
MPs in the House of Commons must feel they are inside something and not only a large building. Inside an institution, a club, a physical and institutional interior. Inside a party within that institution within that building within that gilded interior.
Walking the hills in wet weather gear, raindrops dripping from the peak of my hood, then there is a sense of being inside and outside at the same time. Dry and comfortable inside waterproof clothing yet outside too - out there in the hills.
Maybe the quote also indicates how much more secure we feel compared to most people a century ago, particularly with respect to accommodation. At that time accommodation was much more likely to be rented, a common source of insecurity which has since declined and in a sense migrated as an issue from the social to the political.
Maybe the quote also indicates how much more secure we feel compared to most people a century ago, particularly with respect to accommodation. At that time accommodation was much more likely to be rented, a common source of insecurity which has since declined and in a sense migrated as an issue from the social to the political.
I'm writing this inside of course. It's cold outside this morning - the forecast says rain is on the way. But I'm inside.
10 comments:
Looks like someone's having a decent cigar in that picture. They must be hidden behind the smoke though
Being "inside" has feelings of protection, of being in a space that you can look after rather than being at the mercy of the dirt and chaos caused by other people. Even clothing is like that - if the waterproof gear was communal, like in the army, then I suspect the sense of being protected would be lessened. It's probably one reason why private property makes people happier.
Perhaps that's a problem with our political system; give public servants a big Victorian building like a gentleman's club, and they start to think of it as home, rightfully theirs.
Maybe it's because in the Victorian industrial era ordinary people began to afford having lots of nice stuff, instead of just a table and a few chairs.
“ a sense of being inside and outside at the same time”
Or all at sea?
After Sunday School I would visit my widowed great-grandmother who was Victorian. I don't remember much about it except for the impression of Dark Furnishings.
Bucko - I'm not sure what the smoke is supposed to be. Maybe someone left a cigar on the carpet.
Sam - "Yes Minister" certainly emphasised the club aspect of being a civil service mandarin and it was certainly their club, not the minister's.
Sackers - I'm sure you are right. There was much more mass production than we might imagine. They also discovered mahogany and a large market for imposing furniture mostly made by machines.
James - not in Derbyshire fortunately.
dearieme - much old dark furnishing can end up being painted these days and if done well it can be an improvement. Not always though.
Mahogany was discovered by the Georgians, the Victorians just made much more of it.
Dark furniture, not much demand these days, so I have been able to furnish a house very cheaply at the local auction houses. e.g. very heavy solid oak dining table and six chairs for £240. My only regret being I no longer have room nor need for the ten! Georgian oak chairs that sold for a mere £500 last month.
djc - yes, my mistake. I intended to put something about discovering the massive mahogany look, but exactly what I can't remember.
We have furnished much of our house with old dark furniture without paying much for it. Certainly cheaper than new. Ten Georgian oak chairs for £500 is almost tragic. I'm sitting in a very comfortable solid elm fireside chair, one of a pair which are about 100 years old. They are probably good for another 100 years but we recently saw a similar pair go for £30 at auction.
We had a blackwood dining table that we loved dearly. But we couldn't think of any economic way to ship it here from Oz.
We do have some family heirloom furniture that we like very much. Not our families, but still.
dearieme - we have one item of family heirloom furniture passed down by my wife's family. It's a Victorian slipper or nursing chair from what I can gather off the internet. Completely useless, but it's an heirloom.
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