HOUSE AND GARDEN 
February, 1911 
97 
A mantel of marble and steel in the drawing-room, Rushton Hall, 
Northamptonshire—the work of the brothers Adam 
Another Adam mantel. It is interesting to note how clearly these 
mantels are the inspiration of our own Colonial work 
in color, as shown herewith. 
The decoration of the mold¬ 
ings is very ornate, and much 
ingenuity was displayed in us¬ 
ing natural forms, such as leaves 
and even fruit and flowers, on 
the projecting moldings. 
One very interesting char¬ 
acteristic feature of this work 
was the use of pierced carving. 
A panel or stair-rail was carv¬ 
ed with the spaces between the 
ornamental for m s pierced 
through so that the decoration 
was repeated on both sides. In much of 
the work a great deal of ability was dis¬ 
played in the design as well as ingenuity 
in carrying it out. 
While much of the ornament popular¬ 
ly ascribed to Grinling Gibbons was not 
done by him, he seems to have started a 
school of decoration, which was followed 
throughout England and which is, on the 
whole, the most satisfactory and best de¬ 
signed work of such a sumptuous char¬ 
acter. 
This work was more or less success¬ 
fully followed down to the time of the 
Brothers Robert and James Adam. There 
were four brothers who worked together, 
Robert, however, seems to have been the 
designer and to have dominated the 
others. Their father was a noted Scotch 
architect, who held an important official 
position. Robert Adam was highly edu¬ 
cated, and had studied the classical work 
in Italy, and had even published a mon¬ 
ograph on the Palace of Diocletian at 
Spalatro. Fie chose to study this build¬ 
ing because of its domestic character, as 
he believed English architecture had been too much dominated 
and influenced by the more monumental Roman work, such as 
the great baths, etc. 
About the year 1750 the excavation of Pompeii was under¬ 
taken, and the discovery of this work had a marked effect on 
Detail of another Adam mantel which shows the influence of Pom¬ 
peiian excavations. These had a marked effect just after 1750 
A corner of a representative Adam drawing¬ 
room. Thin ornament was accentuated by a 
background of different tone or color 
architecture and more espec¬ 
ially on decoration through¬ 
out Europe. 
The work of the brothers 
Adam was very strongly in¬ 
fluenced by these discoveries 
and had much of the Pompei¬ 
ian character and curiously 
foreshadowed the Empire style 
in France. In fact they pub¬ 
lished an elaborate book of 
plates in 1773, with text both 
in English and French, and it 
seems almost certain that the 
French designers of the Empire period 
had access to their books and made free 
use of their motives. 
From this work the Georgian was 
evolved, and it is very interesting to see 
the survival in American Colonial man¬ 
tels of motives which were originally 
taken from or inspired by the discover¬ 
ies at Pompeii. 
This is particularly noticeable in the 
introduction of panels with figures be¬ 
low the shelf in mantels and above doors. 
Also the “reed” ornament around open¬ 
ings, which they often used, survived 
in Colonial work very noticeably. They 
frequently used flutes instead of reeds, 
but the general effect was much the 
same and the motive, horizontal lines 
to fill a space surrounding an opening, 
was, I believe, original with them. 
In the Adams’ work the fine, and at 
times thin, ornament, was usually ac¬ 
centuated by placing it on a background 
of another and darker color. This may 
have been suggested by the Gibbons 
work. In the Adams work, however, 
the difference in color was very subtle. The ornament was usual¬ 
ly white, or a very pale gray, on a background of slightly darker 
gray—or perhaps a pale pinkish tone. 
The brothers Adam were interested in, and in fact controlled, 
(Continued on page 112) 
