Viva Brighton Issue #38 April 2016

its and bobs
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Silvered wallpaper in the Saloon
© Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
brighter than previously thought. The original
silver wallpaper from 1822 tarnished rapidly, as
did a reproduction installed in the early twentieth
century. The picture above shows parts of original
wallpaper which survived behind the doorframe,
the equally blackened 20th-century replacement
and a sample of the proposed replacement in the
current restoration scheme.
There are a number of 18th-century examples of
silvered interiors in continental Europe, but they
are extremely rare in Britain. In no other British
interior from the early-19th-century was silver
used so lavishly on ornamental features and wall
decorations. There is only one building where
silver is used boldly and playfully on a similar
scale: the Chinese Drawing Room at Temple
Newsam in Leeds. The silver decorations there
are slightly later than those in the Royal Pavilion,
but there is a direct connection between these two
interiors, which might partly explain the similarities:
George IV, when Prince of Wales, gave
several rolls of Chinese wallpaper to Lady Irwin of
Temple Newsam in 1806. Years later the wallpaper
was used by Lady Irwin’s daughter, Lady Hertford,
with whom George had an affair. She began
redecorating the Chinese Drawing Room in 1822,
incorporating the Chinese wallpaper and later
using silver lavishly on the cornices and borders
of the wall panels. It is likely that Lady Hertford
was inspired by either the recent silvered decorations
at the Royal Pavilion (even if she had only
heard of them) or by earlier silvered elements in
the Circular Room of George’s London residence
Carlton House, where the walls were “entirely
covered with silver, on which are painted Etruscan
ornaments in relief, with vine-leaves, trellis work.”
Alexandra Loske, Art Historian and Curator, The
Royal Pavilion
Alexandra Loske will give a talk about silver at the
Music Room of the Royal Pavilion on 14 April 2016
at 12pm. Free with admission.
brightonmuseums.org.uk
Silvered bell with red glazing from the Banqueting Room
© Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
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