The Neoclassical Interior

A rare sun baked Christchurch afternoon and I am sitting watching the crowd of seed heads in our prairie like back yard toss and turn in the warm wind that feels disconcertingly artificial as if it has emanated from a meteorological heat pump rather than the icy blue Pacific sky. The potted white pansies are wilting trying to escape the heat and an assertive cactus has stretched its prickled tendrils wide and is sun bathing with impunity and delight.

The uncustomary warmth has kindled memories of past summers and days spent under a similarly scorching sun. A trip to Pompeii springs to mind - we walked for hours in the unrelenting heat, the dry dust clinging to our perspiring yet desiccated bodies and my feet rubbed raw by the new sandals that I had foolishly worn for the expedition. Pompeii is vast and demands commitment particularly in the midst of an Italian summer. It was hot, ridiculously uncomfortable and overwhelmingly moving. We wandered through streets where once vendors sold fast food and the deep ruts worn by chariot wheels were still visible in the ancient flag stones. We ducked into stone houses to find shade and found exquisite frescoes remarkably intact on walls, we stood in living rooms where families had gathered for lunch as Vesuvius erupted and shrouded the city and its people in ash. This rare and intimate communion with lives lived and lost so long ago abruptly dissolved the veil of centuries and this once distant tragedy was suddenly eerily present - the fear and grief quite palpable on that 21st century afternoon.

Sadly this week in New Zealand, we have marked the anniversary of the tragic loss of life on Whakaari. This volcanic disaster was painfully close to home and its memory will be carried tenderly forward in time - a sadness woven into our collective history.

Pompeii was rediscovered in the 18th century by an unsuspecting surveyor and the Western world was suddenly abuzz with a renewed interest in the art and culture of classical antiquity. A generation of art students were similarly moved by visiting Pompeii on their Grand Tours and returned home filled with Greco - Roman ideals. The furore surrounding Pompeii helped to spawn the Neo Classical movement which swept through Europe coinciding with the Age of Enlightenment. The enduring classical qualities of simplicity and symmetry were a timely antidote to the excesses of the Rococo style.
Robert Adam the inimitable Scottish architect, interior designer and furniture designer left to study the art and architecture of classical antiquity on the continent soon after the discovery of Pompeii, he was heavily influenced by the discoveries there and his work superbly exemplifies the Neoclassical style.

The exquisite hand painted sideboard that we have featured this month is very much in the style of Robert Adam and although the sideboard was crafted more than a century later it superbly exhibits the elegance and timelessness of Neoclassicism. A decorative and eternally stylish piece of furniture that I am sure Robert Adam would happily have placed in one of his interiors and would equally grace a modern home.