Toby Worthington

Wallpaper Wednesday. Mauny of Paris tasseled swags via Brunschwig & Fils’s licensed copy in a hall decorated by Mark Hampton c. 1980. #markhampton #wallpaperborders #secondempire

This post is a kind of ode to @sibylcolefax’s much loved, long-discontinued chintz known as Brompton Stock. It was a pattern frequently used by John Fowler and his disciples, one that blended into the overall decoration of a room without being too assertive or attention-getting. My late, great friend Bruce, to whom I gave a small remnant that was improvised for a window blind, instantly proclaimed Brompton Stock as ‘The Old Money Chintz’ and that is how I think of it still. What got me thinking of this pattern was an upcoming sale at @stairgalleries, where the contents of a Manhattan apartment decorated by Vivien Greenock include a curvaceous sofa and two pairs of curtains in this vintage fabric. That led to gathering images of some rooms that immediately sprang to mind, where Brompton Stock was used in various ways. 1/2 The Countess of Haddington’s sitting room at Tyninghame Castle, decorated by John Fowler. 3. A detail of Brompton Stock 4. A fireside chair in Brompton Stock 5. Curtains and sofa in a room designed by Roger Banks-Pye 6. Lady Caroline Somerset’s bedroom at the Dower House, Badminton, decorated by Tom Parr 7. A bedroom for the Marquess and Marchioness of Zetland at Aske, designed by Tom Parr 8. A sofa offered at auction by @stairgalleries #bromptonstock #tyninghame #johnfowler #tomparr #rogerbankspye

Serebriakoff Sunday. A collection of turned wooden urns chez Robert de Balkany, rendered by Alexandre Serebriakoff in 1975. I’ll have one of each, thank you. [Music selection: Cy Coleman & Carolyn Leigh, composer and lyricist; Blossom Dearie, vocalist] #serebriakoff

Fowler Friday. Three views of rooms decorated by John Fowler for the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton at Holyrood House, Edinburgh. 1. A corner of the drawing room, where the walls were papered in a mauve- grey, flocked version of the Mauny ‘Coquille’ pattern and where the mauve silk curtains were trimmed out in scarlet. The carpet ended up at Ann and Gordon Getty’s house in San Francisco. 2. The dining room walls were papered in the large-scaled Double Damask based on a length of 18th century Italian silk collected by John Fowler. Chairs covered in stamped wool mohair velvet. 3. The hall, with a chorus line of 3-legged chairs. #johnfowler #sibylcolefaxandjohnfowler #curtaindesign

Throwback.. to the Manhattan dining room of Bill Blass. The 1830ish chairs were Austrian and covered with an antique toile that perfectly suited their shapes. The third image is a belated one, omitted from my recent post on the portrait drawings of Michael Leonard and channeling Bill Blass as a Civil War general ‘photographed’ by Matthew Brady. #diningroom #billblass

Wallpaper Wednesday. At No. 43 Hays Mews, London, a twentieth century variation, by Mauny of Paris, on the eighteenth century wallpaper motif ‘Les Deux Pigeons’. Interior decoration by John Fowler c. 1954. #wallpaper #maunyofparis #sibylcolefaxandjohnfowler #johnfowler

Trompe L’oeil Tuesday. In a sequence of ‘transpositions’ the artist Michael Leonard set his subjects in a historical precedent of his own imagination. Of this work, he explained that ‘every now and then I encounter a face that seems to be straight out of a portrait by one of the great artists of the past.’ To recapture this sensation he devised a series called Portraits in Time, using the illusionist technique of trompe l’oeil to present the portrait as a reproduction torn from a collector’s catalog, each portrait projecting a gaze that breathes from its page, looking at past, present, and future—and each drawn in pencil. 1. Annette de la Renta after JS Sargent 2. David Hicks after Thomas Lawrence 3. Lady Pamela Hicks after Romney 4. Mark Hampton after Ingres 5. Christopher Gibbs after Ingres 6.John Richardson after Cooper 7. Nicky Haslam after Ingres 8. William Burlington after Van Dyke 9. Sir Roy Strong after Clouët 10. Michael Leonard after Frans Hals #annettedelarenta #davidhicks #nickyphaslam #ladypamelahicks

Screen Scene Sunday. 1. A pair of painted leather screens in the New York apartment of Eliza Reed Bolen. 2. The same leather screen as seen in a photograph of Samuel and Annette Reed with their daughter Beatrice, photographed by Horst for Vogue magazine’s issue of 15 January 1966. 3. Annette Reed (later de la Renta) in 1966. 4. Mr Samuel Pryor Reed #paintedleatherscreen #annettedelarenta #samuelreed #horst

No. 5 Belgrave Square, continued. Mrs Anthony Crossley, dressed by Norman Hartnell and photographed by Cecil Beaton for Vogue in 1949, stands before a chimneypiece decorated by Rex Whistler in 1935-36, at Chips Channon’s house, No. 5 Belgrave Square. Over the chimneypiece, a female figure, framed in a trompe l’oeil archway, leans upon an urn above a slender pedestal, a wreathed spear in her hand. The frame to the arch and the plinth below were built out with a slight projection, the marbling matching the actual marble of the chimneypiece. The surrounding stars were in gold leaf. An early design (2 ) shows a figure in a decorated niche viewed straight on; and it is interesting to see how this concept was altered to produce a mood more sombrely classical in the finished work, where the perspective was planned to be viewed by someone entering the room from the right side. Mrs Anthony Crossley was in private life the artist Claire Thomson—this information, along with the unsettling fact that all traces of Rex’s mural have evidently vanished, was conveyed to me by Nikki Frater @nikki.frater whose book 'Rex Whistler: The Artist and His Patrons’ was published earlier this year. #rexwhistler #chipschannon #cecilbeaton

When it’s only the two of you for dinner (plus two good friends), why not eschew the big dining room in favour of a more intimate setting, as done here at Number 5 Belgrave Square? A table whose top had inlaid marble specimens was set up in an anteroom (1/2) having dark green walls, white satin portiéres, back-lit vitrines and life-sized figures which led to the more famous dining room—the Amalienburg ripoff that Harold Nicholson described in a letter to Vita Sackville-West as ‘…baroque and rococo and what-ho and oh-no-no and all that..’ (3/4). The interior decoration was carried out by Maison Jansen for Mr Henry Channon and his wife, Lady Honor Guinness Channon, circa 1935-36. #intimatedining #chipschannon #maisonjansen #centrepieces

Nancy Mitford Born 28 November 1904 At end of December 1947, Nancy Mitford moved into 7 rue Monsieur, Paris. To Evelyn Waugh she wrote ‘You must one day see this flat it is so pretty and untouched I should say for 60 years. The furniture.. is of museum quality, such beauty you can’t imagine. I’ve got a garden, a charming servant and constant hot water, so you see—bliss.’ She told Mark Ogilvie-Grant, ‘I’ve got Tomford’s nice big sofa ( think of what IT must have witnessed in its time) & my Sheraton writing table and Farve’s lovely Chinese screens and they all fit in very well.. also a great deal of Muv’s linen which is worth its weight in gold now, and my Dresden china clock.’ #nancymitford

Rex Whistler Wednesday. Drawing room at 90 Gower Street, London. Seven trompe l’oeil decorations were designed and painted by Rex Whistler in 1935 for Duff and Lady Diana Cooper, consisting of four circular plaques, two apparent mezzotints, and a jug which appeared to stand in a niche. In a letter from the artist to Lady Diana Cooper, Rex wrote of ‘the big stone milk jug.. you will see that, most unfortunately, a housemaid knocked it over one day and the neck and handle got broken but I got it well riveted so I hope you won’t notice it much. The silly girl tried to lift it by the handle, but of course it must NEVER be lifted by that handle, it is only for ornament.’ 1. Left side of drawing room with painted niche 2. Detail of the trompe l’oeil vase, shown detached from the wall after the house was demolished. 3. Right side of drawing room showing star-patterned satin curtains. The interior decoration was attributed to Sibyl Colefax. [A full view of the room can be seen in today’s Story] #rexwhistler #duffanddianacooper #tromploeil #sibylcolefax