The Triumph of Comfort: Re-upholstering Europe 1600–1815

Abstract

Abstract In the Europe 1600–1815 Galleries two baroque chairs, a rococo daybed and a neoclassical chair evoke the opulence of late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century seating, a fitting testimony to the increasing demand for comfort in elite households of the period. All four items were re-upholstered in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This article explains the lengthy research and conservation process behind the transformation of what were dull, overpainted and overgilded furniture frames, covered in dated fabrics, into extravagant statements of fine craftsmanship, gilded luxury and cushioned comfort – qualities of immense importance to the gallery narratives.