E21: French Boudoir of the Louis XV Period, 1740–60

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):

21: French Boudoir of the Louis XV Period, 1740–60
In planning this interior, Mrs. Thorne wished to suggest the growing concern for comfort in the eighteenth century. “Due to a desire for luxury and intimacy,” she wrote, “rooms were reduced to a reasonable size, methods of heating were improved, and bathrooms and dressing rooms were introduced.” Mrs. Thorne attributed these innovations to “the delicate hand of a discerning woman . . . Madame de Pompadour.” Though Mrs. Thorne may have overstated the case, Louis XV’s mistress did in fact exert a great influence on the arts, as she did on the king.
It is not surprising that this period witnessed a proliferation of forms on which to sit and recline, such as the chaise longue (in the foreground on the left), bergère (upholstered armchair with rounded back, wide seat, and upholstery between arm and seat), armchairs, and settee in this room. These pieces combined elegance with ease, their generous width being well suited to accommodate the voluminous skirts of stiff brocade worn by the ladies of the court. The chaise longue in particular, Mrs. Thorne pointed out, “offered the tightly laced beauties of the day as much relaxation as their corseted figures would permit.”
Also typical is the profusion of small cabinets and tables of the kind used in this interior. Often equipped with elaborate opening and closing mechanisms, such pieces were kept small so they could be moved about easily. Appropriate to a boudoir were dressing tables like the one by the window, a necessity in a period of elaborate toilettes and coiffures.
Light tones in woods, draperies, and paints became the fashion, with muted colors—rose, lilac, powder blue, and apple green—replacing the previous era’s preference for deeper shades. The ornamentation at the top and bottom of the paneling in this room exemplifies the finely carved clusters of scroll, shell, and floral forms that characterize the Rococo.
The portraits on the back wall are of Louis XV and his queen, Marie Leszczynska. They flank a simulated tapestry, a piece of petit point from one of the antique shops Mrs. Thorne frequented in Paris. Such stores were also the source of the miniature accessories in gold, ivory, and porcelain displayed in this elegant room.
This room measures 18 1/4 x 24 3/4 x 23 1/8 inches.