A23: Virginia Drawing Room, 1754
Narcissa Niblack Thorne (American, 1882–1966)
c. 1940
- Medium
- Miniature room, mixed media
- Classification
- Miniature room
- Dimensions
- External: 58.5 × 127.7 × 89.6 cm (23 × 50 1/4 × 35 1/4 in.); Internal (main room only): 30.5 × 54 × 63.5 cm (12 × 21 1/4 × 25 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):
23: Virginia Drawing Room, 1754 Another Virginia interior from the mid-eighteenth century, this model was inspired by the drawing room of Wilton, a ten-room Georgian house known today for its outstanding brickwork and built by William Randolph III along the James River south of Richmond. Although its architect is unknown, the residence has been attributed to Richard Taliaferro, designer of the George…
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
