. The book of decorative furniture, its form, colour and history . s of the Screen and Choir Stalls,erected between 1531 and 1535 in Kings College Chapel, Cambridge,the stonework and woodwork contend which shallthe most deserve admiration. Their purely Italiancharacter is so unmistakable as to leave no doubtthat both screen and stalls were the work of foreignartists and craftsmen (Sir Digby Wyatt attributesthe design to Holbein), and not representative ofeither native design or craftsmanship. Indeed, intypical and native work until practically the con-clusion of Elizabeths reign, the Renaissan
. The book of decorative furniture, its form, colour and history . s of the Screen and Choir Stalls,erected between 1531 and 1535 in Kings College Chapel, Cambridge,the stonework and woodwork contend which shallthe most deserve admiration. Their purely Italiancharacter is so unmistakable as to leave no doubtthat both screen and stalls were the work of foreignartists and craftsmen (Sir Digby Wyatt attributesthe design to Holbein), and not representative ofeither native design or craftsmanship. Indeed, intypical and native work until practically the con-clusion of Elizabeths reign, the Renaissance detailswere used by Englishmen, rather for the sake ofgrafting upon the native construction than with anyview of utilising either the Italian construction orthe classic spirit. This is evident even in worksof the imported Italians and their native en bloccopyists, such as the Christchurch Abbey Stallsand the fine woodwork at the Vine, ^ Basingstoke,in Hampshire, which show further stages in the blending of Italianneo-Classic detail with the indigenous OAK DRAUGHT CHAIR, OR gu£rite. NONESUCH CHESTS It is a curious commentary on Henrys masterpiece in building,that the wondrous Palace of Nonesuch owes the handing-down ofits outlines largely to their being pictured in inlay on the piecesof decorative furniture known as Nonesuch Chests. One of these isillustrated in Colour Plate No. 13, with a summary of the chequeredhistory of this royal palace, which was built at Cheam about 1541,chiefly from the designs of foreign artists; since it is recorded thatthe King procured excellent artificers, sculptors, and statuaries, as 70 DECORATIVE FURNITURE well Italian, French, and Dutch as native. Toto del Nuneiataappears to have oeen the principal designer of Nonesuch voucliea for its beauty and variety of the building, one ofwhose chief glories was a room panelled in deal, then valued in thiscountry as a much more unusual wood than oak. Durins: Henrv reign the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade191, booksubjectdecorationandornament
