Thomas Hope's Lasting Impact on Style: Exploring the Legacy of a Regency Tastemaker
Designer, patron, collector, and author Thomas Hope (1769–1831) is one of the major figures in the history of design. In addition to collecting antiquities, Hope designed his own furniture and decorative schemes, that were published in his book, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, Executed from Designs by Thomas Hope (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, 1807), which was influential in promoting Greek and Egyptian styles as the height of fashion in interior decoration and helped shape and define what became known as the British Regency style.
Hope belonged to a family of Amsterdam bankers who fled to England in 1794 when Holland was invaded by France. Breaking from family tradition, he pursued the study of art and architecture. He visited the traditional Grand Tour destinations in France and Italy between 1787 and 1798, and travelled even farther afield through North Africa, Greece, and the Ottoman Empire. This Grand Tour formed the basis of his collection as well as of his sense of aesthetics and his design vocabulary.
Thomas Hope, by Sir William Beechey, oil on canvas, 1798. National Portrait Gallery, London.
In 1799 Thomas Hope bought a residence on Duchess Street in London, which required some remodelling to accommodate his collection. Hope took great interest in the design and installation of the galleries, drawing inspiration from his travels and studies — perhaps using ideas suggested by the young architect Charles Heathcote Tatham. The work was finished by 1804, and a few years later Hope published a book on the design of Duchess street, complete with illustrations. This volume, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807), is said to have introduced the phrase “interior decoration” to the English language; it also became the definitive guide to English Regency style.
View of the Picture Gallery from Household Furniture and Interior Decoration
The architect and collector Sir John Soane visited Duchess Street in 1802, just as he was preparing designs for the display of his own eclectic collection. Hope continued to collect and eventually transferred many of his ancient sculptures to his country residence, Deepdene, about thirty miles south of London. When Thomas Hope died in 1831, he left his entire estate to his eldest son Henry. The collection was sadly dispersed in the early 20th century with pieces ending up in various museums and private collections all over the world.
While most of the artworks were collected by Hope during and after his extensive travels, he also designed a significant number of furniture and furnishings for his house and he commissioned contemporary artists and craftsmen such as Flaxman, Chantrey and Bogaert to create works that in various ways emulated the cultural and aesthetic ideals he greatly admired in the art and artefacts of antiquity.
We have been fascinated by Thomas Hope's legacy since the beginning of our journey of discovering the history of art and design. A few objects that we have been lucky to take care of were inspired by Thomas Hope's designs, and here are some of them:
One of set of eight 'Klismos' chairs following a design by Thomas Hope, Household Furniture, plate XI, nos. 3-4, as are other variants without arms, plate II, nos. 2-8, currently in our collection. He designed this chair in the Greek klismos form, with chimerical winged lionesses sacred to the deity Apollo, emblematic of sovereignty and power. Replicas of the celebrated Egyptian lionesses of the Campidoglio, Rome provided inspiration for its design, while the back's X-scrolled supports may derive from a tabouret pattern from Recueil de décorations Intérièures (1801), which illustrated a sphinx-armed seat; this book was included under ‘A List of the different Works which have been most use to me’ in the preface of Household Furniture.
Apparently, Thomas Hope owned a copy of the bust of Dionysos from the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, now in the Naples Archeological Museum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli). A very fine bronze version of it by Sabatino de Angelis foundry is currently in our collection.
A 'Klismos' chair, one of a pair, virtually identical to Thomas Hope's design, sold to an important US private collection in 2022.
A footstool, its form and decoration inspired by two designs by Thomas Hope, sold to a German private collection in 2023.
An X-shaped stool to a variation of Thomas Hope's design. Sold to a distinguished US decorator in 2021.
A pair of faux-porphyry lamps after Thomas Hope's designs, informed by ancient Roman archeological artifacts. Sold to a prominent UK decorating firm in 2021.
Despite this 'Klismos' armchair is not a 'direct' descendant of any Thomas Hope's designs, the shape of its 'wraparound' back with back legs follows a design illustrated in plate 20, fig. 6 in Household Furniture, while the front of the frame with its sabre front legs follow the design shown in plate 25, fig. 4 (ditto). Without equivalent among Thomas Hope's designs, the rudimentary armrests follow the French examples of 'officer's chairs' from the Directoire period: this arrangement allowed an officer to use the chair while wearing his sword (marks on the inside of one of the armrests clearly testify to that). Sold to a prominent Manhattan collection in 2022.
Literature
ed. D. Watkin, P. Hewat-Jaboor, Thomas Hope Regency Designer, New Haven and London, 2008
T. Hope, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807
Christie's, The Exceptional Sale, London, 4 July 2019, lot 131
