E20: French Library of the Louis XV Period, c. 1720

Narcissa Niblack Thorne, creator of the Thorne Rooms, combined a deep knowledge of design history with a vivid imaginative sensibility. In the 1930s, she assembled a team of skilled artisans in Chicago to construct a series of intricately detailed interiors at the scale of one inch to one foot (1:12).

Conceived as a visual history of interior design, the rooms are at once scholarly and inventive. Meticulously researched and carefully composed, they balance historical accuracy with artistic interpretation. Each atmospheric interior feels like a stage set awaiting its occupants—two parts fantasy, one part history, and entirely absorbing.

Entry from Fannia Weingartner, Miniature Rooms: The Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2nd ed. (The Art Institute of Chicago, 2004):

20: French Library of the Louis XV Period, c. 1720
In 1715 the five-year-old great grandson of Louis XIV succeeded to the throne as Louis XV, with Philippe, Duke of Orleans, appointed as regent. The eight years of the regency were ones of significant shifts in French taste in architecture and in the decorative arts, a transition from the classical Baroque style that characterizes the palace of Versailles to the less grandiose and lighter Rococo, which became dominant during the second quarter of the eighteenth century.
At this time, a number of hôtels particuliers (townhouses) were built in Paris and their interiors decorated with complex scrollwork combined with shell forms, flowers, ribbons, and other artifices in fanciful arrangements. “Everything must be curves, a revolt against the stiff and uncomfortable lines of Louis XIV,” wrote Mrs. Thorne. Regency curves appear in this interior in the overdoor and overpanel decoration, with their painted floral insets. Oak paneling of the kind used here either could be painted or unpainted, with gilding reserved for the ornamentation. With its graceful, flowing lines, the elegant writing table in front of the doorway to the right is typical of the period. The wood for the chairs was usually painted or gilt, while the tables and commodes (such as those along the right wall) were veneered in exotic woods and accented with elaborate ormolu mounts.
The miniature paintings and portraits are in the style of the leading court painter, François Boucher. The Boucher composition over the mantel is Pastoral Subject in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Originally used as a seal, the bronze bust on the console to the left depicts the philosopher Voltaire. Mrs. Thorne was particularly proud of the fine leather tooling on the books displayed in this library and of the miniature gold coffee set, on the pedestal table by the settee, which she had acquired in Paris. The placement of the furniture is not typical of the period, but Mrs. Thorne succeeded in conveying her notion of what was appealing about French interiors of this time. “This room is restful and luxurious,” she noted.
This room measures 18 1/4 x 21 7/8 x 25 1/8 inches.