Paper Hangings

From the New British Lady’s Magazine Vol. 1 Issue 1 (1815) at 59-60.

Paper Hangings.

Some PAPER HANGINGS of French manufacture have recently arrived in this country, which deserve notice. The Custom-house duty upon these articles is very high, we believe near ninety per cent.; and the design of the importers appear to have been to introduce only goods of such superior workmanship, as should excite the desire to purchase and produce emulation in our artists. In truth, what we have examined are transcendently beautiful; and, notwithstanding the duties, at moderate prices. The prevailing taste at Paris seems to be for obtaining upon the walls the effect of hangings, either of silk, satin, velvet, or some other elegant fabric: this is effected by the grounds of the papers, having all the character and expression of the texture designed to be imitated; and the papers being shaded, to represent folds and the ornaments of the papers are arranged relatively to the supposed shadows, as they would dispose themselves upon a real hanging. The illusion is continued, from the festooning and cordage at the ceiling, to the very flooring of the room; the skirting appearing beneath the bold sweeping fold of the hanging, in a colour elegantly contrasting with it. One of these papers is pre-eminently splendid. The ground of the supposed hanging is a flock of blushing crimson; the pattern of the ornament is a simple gold stud, or flower, something less than an inch in diameter, set angularly, at about six inches apart; next the ceiling is a rich depending gold cornice, beneath which, the hanging is looped by large gold cordage; the bottom of the hanging is a superb gold fringe. The effect of this hanging, and particularly of its arabesque, is inconceivable, but from real drapery so ornamented. Its gorgeous, yet simple, magnificence, is in the truest style of imperial splendour With selections from this class of papers the walls of respectable private houses in Paris and the best towns in France, are commonly clothed. There are papers of another class, however, which are manufactured in the same manner as the former, that still further merit regard. These are landscapes and other subjects, executed to produce an effect strictly panoramic. This has not hitherto been obtained in England for the decoration of dwellings, but from the pencil of the artist, upon a comparatively small scale, and at great expense. In a few of our more elegant dwellings, a panel or two of a room is sometimes appropriated to the representation of the interior of a colonnade or portico, looking out upon scenery which is pencilled in; or, perhaps, the paneling represents a veranda; and an able artist has supplied a landscape with “Ceres laughing over the land”--a lake scene, or whatever of art and nature the country or the imagination of the painter could supply; but all this has been obtained of individual talent, for individual gratification; and the artist had no power of multiplying his picture, or the possessor of replacing it, but by recurring to the same labour and expense. The French paper-hangings of this species, in design, delicacy of execution, and colouring, rival the magic of the pencil. --The Fountainbleu hunt is the series of adventures from the setting out to the death; comprising the scenes of the chase, in continuity. From that palace having been the residence of Napoleon, the hunt is presumed to be imperial; and the style of setting out in France, the costume, the horses, and great variety in figures, and the whole picture being most appropriately coloured, render it at once a showy and interesting object.--Another more general pleasing subject, is the first part of the adventures of Don Quixote. This differs much from the hunt in effect, as in story; it being represented in bistre, which is more chaste and classical to the eye, although the tale would be considerably heightened, were it in colours. The design is spirited, and admirable; the insane solemnity of the Don, the rich humour of Sancho, their several and mutual mishaps are well told. The attack on the windmills, and releasing of the prisoners; Sancho tossed in the blanket, with the Don looking over the inn wall; and Sacho’s surprise, on finding his ass had been stolen from under him, are irresistibly good. The costume, which is various, and the scenery, are strictly Spanish. This part of the Don’s Adventures is on twenty-four sheets of paper, eight feet high, and twenty-one inches wide, and covers a space of forty-two feet in width.--Upon proportionately large scales are paper hangings of the Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, and Captain Cook’s Voyages; also various series of exquisite Views of the Bay of Naples, Views of Switzerland, Turkey, the Bosphorus, Hindostan, and other countries presenting romantic, beautiful, and magnificent scenery.