British Neoclassical Interiors

When the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum were excavated in the  eighteenth century, new information about the ancient world sparked a revolution in architecture and interior design.  Neoclassicism was a reaction against the sumptuous Rococo style, pioneered in Britain by designers Robert Adam, James 'Athenian' Spencer and William Chambers. Neoclassicism dominated Western architecture for over a hundred years and it continues to be relevant in twenty-first century design. The interiors sought to recreate an authentically Roman interior vocabulary, employing flatter, lighter motifs, sculpted in low frieze like relief or painted like cameos, isolated medallions, vases, busts with motifs suspended on swags of laurel or ribbon, with slender arabesques. Emphasizing proportion and grace, embellished with Classical detail, the Neoclassical style lives on in many English country homes townhouses, such as Spencer House, Osterley Park and Kedleston Hall.