| During the course of the1800's Britain developed into | | | | techniques could rapidly reproduce the styles and |
| the most prosperous and technologically advanced | | | | designs which before now has been expensively |
| nation on earth. Invention, mechanization and | | | | carved by craftsmen. |
| industrialization brought the greatest and far reaching | | | | The history of Victorian furniture is one of variety. Out |
| change in England and the English. The nation rapidly | | | | of favour went the grace and fine lines of the |
| grew in confidence of its place as a leading world | | | | Regency style furniture which were replaced by the |
| power. Fueled by the wealth of its industrialization and | | | | more robust heavy furniture of the prosperous |
| new manufacturing industries its influence reached far | | | | Victorian home. Ornate decoration and dark shining |
| around the world to the furthest corners of its empire. | | | | woods of mahogany and rosewood veneer and |
| This was a new world and with it came a new order | | | | elaborate machined turned legs. However no one style |
| to challenge the old accepted power structures. A | | | | was dominant in the Victorian home as designers, |
| new class middle class of wealthy industrialists whose | | | | encouraged by the fast output of the new furniture |
| money gave them power and influence became the | | | | manufacturing industries gave their imaginations free |
| Victorian rich and their choices and values were to be | | | | run. It was now possible to mass produce styles from |
| a major influence in Victorian life. Their money, founded | | | | other historical periods and the reproduction of earlier |
| in the production from the new factories bought them | | | | styles from the Tudor, Elizabethan, and Neo Classical |
| fine new homes, large and important. These great new | | | | periods became popular. However the one style that |
| houses borrowed from the styles of the upper classes | | | | perhaps recalls this period most is the Gothic revival |
| with many rooms which needed filling. The rise of the | | | | style. Large heavy furniture pieces in Gothic design |
| middle classes meant more homes with more money | | | | were made in solid oak to reflect Englishness. The |
| to spend and the need for more furniture. | | | | Victorians embraced the Gothic style with enthusiasm |
| Along with the new modern Victorian world came an | | | | as can be seen in architecture and art as well as in |
| inevitable change in style of the Victorian home and | | | | the design of these furniture pieces. The history of |
| the history of Victorian furniture is one of variety. | | | | Victorian furniture reflects the history of the Victorian |
| Furniture styles that reflected a fascination with the | | | | age where a society underwent huge changes yet |
| past were also a showcase of what was now | | | | also huge uncertainties. Which made them look |
| possible in design and production. This age saw the | | | | forward with pride and confidence while still looking |
| beginning of mass production of furniture in a | | | | back to a fictional age of order, glory and chivalry. |
| manufacturing industry whose new industrial | | | | |