Design for the Decoration of the Drawing Room at Eastnor Castle, Hertfordshire 1845 - 1855

John Gregory Crace created this watercolor design for the Drawing Room at Eastnor Castle, Hertfordshire, sometime in the 19th century. This image presents us with a vision of elite domestic space during a period of intense social change in England. The Gothic style evoked here was popular among the aristocracy as a way of visually linking themselves to a chivalric, medieval past. The heraldic symbols and pointed arches are visual cues. These features can be found in ecclesiastical architecture, so the design seems to ennoble the space. Interior design like this naturalizes power by embedding social hierarchies into the very walls of a building. To properly understand this image, we should consider the commercial history of the Crace firm, the social function of Eastnor Castle, and the revival of Gothic style. With these resources, we can appreciate the politics of imagery and the social conditions that shaped artistic production in 19th-century England.