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Article: A reverence for the Old World. (Newport, Rhode Island)
- Article from:
- The Magazine Antiques
- Article date:
- April 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Brant Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Edith Wharton (1862-1937) and Ogden Codman Jr. (1863-1951), the undisputed arbiters of taste during the Gilded Age, declared in The Decoration of Houses:
Beautiful pictures or rare prints produce little effect on the walls of a gala room, just as an accumulation of small objects of art, such as enamels, ivories and miniatures, are wasted upon its tables and cabinets. Such treasures are for rooms in which people spend their days, not for those in which they assemble for an hour's entertainment.(1)
Despite this dictate, the "cottages" of Newport contain a remarkable assemblage of European paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and objets de verta that reflect a ...