The pictures find their place in a complete surveyof domestic—and some more palatial—interiors portrayed in art from the ancient world to thelate nineteenthcentury, and including worksby Vermeer, Hogarth, Durer,Degas, and Vuillard. The text goes beyond scholarly commentary to present an evolving picture of men and women in relation to domestic surroundings, full of human interest, wit, and wide-ranging cultural references.

The appeal of this extraordinary book lies in its rapt obsession with the detailsof thedomestic interior,borne out in a wonderfullyrich collection of pictures. These charmingpaintings and watercolors, mostly dating from 1770 to 1860 and coming from all over Europe,Russia, and America, record with faithful accuracy the shape of a room,the pattern of a carpet, thefurniture, pictures, fabrics, andwall coverings, the hang of the curtains andthe fall ofthe light they admit.

Introduction

Notes to the Introduction

Illustrations and commentary

Greek and Roman Furnishings

The Medieval House

Late Medieval Interiors

Late Gothic Furniture

15th Century Italian Interiors

Interiors in the Paintings of Vittore Carpaccio

Interiors in Florentine Renaissance Painting

The Scholar's Cell

16th Century Interiors in the Engravings of van der Straet

17th Century Flemish Interiors in the Paintings of Frans Franken

Dutch Interiors in 17th Century Emblem Books

Opulent Flemish Interiors in the Paintings of van Bassen

Louis XIII Interiors in the Engravings of Abraham Bosse

Interiors in 17th Century Dutch Painting Wunderkammern and Patrician Galleries

English Interiors of the 18th Century

Gothic Taste in 18th Century England

Louis XV Interiors:

 Innovations in Furniture and the Distribution of Apartments

The Classical Influence and the Development of the Louis XVI Style

An lnterest in Humble Interiors and Precious Furniture

Early Neoclassical Interiors

Interiors by Percier and Fontaine: The Inspiration of Herculaneum

The Recueil of Percier and Fontaine: The "Bible of Empire Style"

Archeological Trends in England: Interiors and Furniture by Thomas Hope

Empire Interiors

Watercolor Interiors by Garnerey

Empire Interiors in Naples

From Empire to Biedermeier

The Timelessness of Humble Interiors

The Biedermeier Stirnmung in the Paintings of Georg Friedrich Kersting

Interior Views as Portraits of Famous Persons

The Bonapartes in Exile--The Round Table of Queen Hortense

Early 19th Century Florentine Interiors

Biedermeier Interiors of the Bourbons in Naples

Biedermeier Interiors of the Court of Marie-Louise at Parma

Bourgeois Interiors and the Sense of Intimacy

19th Century Kitchens

American and English Interiors of the Early 19th Century

The Brighton Pavilion

The Home and Museum of Sir John Soane

Sovereigns' Studies of the Early 19th Century

Interiors of the German Royal Palaces in the Early 19th Century:

 Interiors by Karl Friedrich Schinkel

 The Zimmerlaube

 Neo-Gothic Taste and Ornament

 Wallpaper, Curtains and Tile Stoves

 The Mode of Raphael

 The Empire Style in German Palaces: The Munich Residenz

 Interiors of the Tegernsee Castle: Empire--Biedermeier

Russian Interiors, 1820's-1850's

Danish Interiors of about 1830

Cafes, Osterie, and Gathering Places

Artists' Studios

The Chigi Album

Dutch Interiors, 1830-1840

The Album of Queen Sophia of Holland

Innovations: The Pouf.

Character of the Furnishing--Character of the Owner

Children and Flowers

Around the Table

The World Outside

Influence of the Great Exhibition of 1851

Residences of Foreigners in Italy

Watercolor Interiors by Fernand Pelez

Exaltation of the Stuffed Chair

The Style Louis XVI--Imperatrice

The Chateau de Ferrieres of the Baron de Rothschild

The Twilight of the Biedermeier Spirit: A Comparison between Interiors of the 1840's and 1860's.

The Styleless Interior

The Clutter of Bric-a-Brac and Junk: The Makart-Bukett

The Japanese Vogue and the Eclecticism of the 19th Century

The Intimism of Interiors by Vuillard

Art Nouveau Interiors

Notes to the Commentary and Index