Overmantel and Cornice from Great House in Cassiobury Park, Hertfordshire
Grinling Gibbons
c. 1685
Medium
Limewood
Dimensions
335.3 × 274.3 cm (132 × 108 in.)
Classification
wood
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
28770
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Flowers in the home made a grand statement in 17th century Northern Europe, where year-round cultivation was difficult and expensive. Influenced by potted plants and live garlands, Anglo-Dutch artists decked luxurious interiors with year-round floral displays sculpted in wood. This fashion was led by sculptor Grinling Gibbons, who devised a technique of carving layers of linden wood in highly naturalistic detail to be applied in rhythmic masses of flowers over doorways and picture frames above f...