Turning back to England, we may note that the taste was changing in the days of Chippendale's great fame; and it is not unlikely that furniture was even sent from his shop in the Adam taste. In Harewood House, the residence of the Earl of Harewood, many original bills and documents show that Chippendale worked there with and under Robert Adam. Much of the furniture still in existence was made by him and in the Adam Style, though occasionally a piece is found in his favorite rococo manner. In this house Rose, Zucchi, Rebecci and Collins were also employed; but Robert Adam was the decorative architect. Harewood House with this amazing combination, presents the best exhibition of the transition, between the rocaille as practised in England and the neo-classic style of the Adams.

Just as the French were tiring of the rocaille, so in England taste rebelled against what, for want of a better name, we may call the "Chippendale Style." To the architects Robert and James Adam, the change of style must be largely attributed. Attracted by old Roman architecture Robert Adam went to Nimes in 1754; to Rome in 1756; and, with the French architect, Clerisseau, to Dalmatia in 1757. The remains of Diocletian's Palace at Spalatro gave him the models he wanted; and of this Palace he published a descriptive work with engravings by Bartolozzi.

In 1762, Robert Adam was appointed architect to the King; and, with James, designed a great number of houses in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Bath, Glasgow and elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

"Most of the houses erected by Robert Adam were decorated and furnished from his own designs. The chimney-pieces, cornices, doors, chairs, tables, cabinets, mirrors, the wall-papers, chair-coverings, door-knockers - even once for the King, a counterpane - appear in his designs. No part of the house and nothing in its contents was too insignificant to be included in his sketches. Everything was carried out in the same style, a style which combined comfort with elegance.

"There is no doubt that Robert was greatly helped in his decorative work by Michele Angelo Pergolesi, who came over with him from Italy. Angelica Kauffmann, Cipriani, Zucchi, and Columbani also painted plaques and ornamental designs of many kinds. A great deal of 'Adam' decorative work is wrongly attributed to Angelica Kauffmann."

Plate XXXIV - Chippendale Three-back Settee

The lines of the furniture became more architectural than under the Chippendale period; and the ornaments suggested by the antique consist of festoons of husks or bell-flowers, thin swags of drapery, stars, medallions, rosettes, bulls' and rams' heads, wreaths, cupids, griffins, sphinxes, lozenge-shaped panels, knots of ribbon, caryatides, Greek, Roman or Etruscan vases and a radiating ornament such as a fan or the rising sun. "Plaques on which classical subjects were depicted by well-known decorative artists of the day were frequently used for the ornamentation of Adam furniture. Figure subjects were also inlaid and so delicately executed that at a short distance they appear to be paintings. Satin-wood was introduced into England from the East Indies about this period and added a new note of color to houses where mahogany or gilded furniture had so long reigned supreme. At first the new wood was mainly used for inlaying purposes. Adam is supposed to have employed Capitsoldi as well as other Italian and French metal workers for the making of gilt-bronze mountings. Occasionally the work was fine and delicate, but as a general rule metal ornaments on English furniture were not equal either in color, design, or execution to those of Gouthiere and Caffieri in France." 1

1 Constance Simon.

There is very little Adam furniture in existence. An Adam pier, or console-table, appears, however, on Plate XXXVII., of inlaid satin-wood and mahogany. The baluster and tapering, fluted legs are gilt, the frieze consists of a band of pendant leaf-cups and trumpet ornament in beaded tongue outline, and the central decoration consists of an oblong panel of inlaid satin-wood, mahogany, and tulip wood painted with a medallion head in grisaille wreathed with laurel and festooned with a row of pink roses tied with blue ribbons. The semi-circular top is finely painted in rich colors with swags of flowers alternating with cameo medallion heads in grisaille, suspended from knots of blue ribbon. In the centre is an oblong panel with Phoebus in grisaille, in borders of arabesque foliage in orange and grisaille. The border of the top is inlaid with a scalloped band painted with festoons of drapery and trophies. The whole is trimmed with a narrow band of tulip-wood.

Pole-Screen By Adam