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A14: Pennsylvania Drawing Room, 1834–36
Narcissa Niblack Thorne (American, 1882–1966)
c. 1940
- Medium
- Miniature room, mixed media
- Classification
- Miniature room
- Dimensions
- External: 51.5 × 151.8 × 55.9 cm (20 1/4 × 59 3/4 × 22 in.); Internal (main room only): 34.7 × 64.2 × 51.5 cm (13 5/8 × 25 1/4 × 20 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- United States
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Applied Arts of Europe
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. James Ward Thorne
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
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):
14: Pennsylvania Drawing Room, 1834–36 Two parlors at Andalusia, in Bensalem Township near Philadelphia, remodeled at the height of the Greek Revival period by its owner, Nicholas Biddle, inspired this drawing room. Biddle, a leading social, financial, and cultural figure in Philadelphia, was president of the Bank of the United States. In his youth, he had traveled in England, France, Italy, Greece, and…
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
