19C English Baroque Gilt Floral Wall Mirror

Published by Nevan O Shaughnessy on May 10, 2023May 10, 2023

PRESENTING A LOVELY 19C English Baroque Gilt Floral Wall Mirror.

English, circa 1840.

In classic ‘Baroque’ style with scrolling acanthus and vines in very ornate design and detail. Made of giltwood, pine, oak and gesso.

Probably originally a frame for a painting, but mirror inserted instead.

Nice medium size, suitable for multiple uses and placement.

This is a high quality and rare, period mirror, in great condition for it’s age.

The mirror glass is a late 20C replacement, as unlike the frame, it does not have the signs of age with pithing to the mirror backing that one would expect with a period mirror. Also, the rear cardboard backing indicates a later replacement. This is not unusual, as these are functional pieces and the clarity of the mirror glass is important for daily use. Almost every period mirror has it’s glass replaced.

It is a ‘SUPER’ match for the Large/Monumental Early 19C English Baroque Floral Wall Mirror also in our Inventory and posted separately at: Link: https://rockwellantiquesdallas.com/early-19c-large-english-baroque-gilt-floral-wall-mirror/

The Baroque (UK: /bəˈrɒk/, US: /bəˈroʊk/; French: [baʁɔk]) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including the Iberian Peninsula it continued, together with new styles, until the first decade of the 19th century. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in the past often referred to as “late Baroque”) and Neoclassical styles. It was encouraged by the Catholic Church as a means to counter the simplicity and austerity of Protestant architecture, art, and music, though Lutheran Baroque art developed in parts of Europe as well.

The Baroque style used contrast, movement, exuberant detail, deep colour, grandeur, and surprise to achieve a sense of awe. The style began at the start of the 17th century in Rome, then spread rapidly to France, northern Italy, Spain, and Portugal, then to Austria, southern Germany, and Russia. By the 1730s, it had evolved into an even more flamboyant style, called rocaille or Rococo, which appeared in France and Central Europe until the mid to late 18th century.

In the decorative arts, the style employs plentiful and intricate ornamentation. The departure from Renaissance classicism has its own ways in each country. But a general feature is that everywhere the starting point is the ornamental elements introduced by the Renaissance. The classical repertoire is crowded, dense, overlapping, loaded, in order to provoke shock effects. New motifs introduced by Baroque are: the cartouche, trophies and weapons, baskets of fruit or flowers, and others, made in marquetry, stucco, or carved.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque