62. Material Matters: Reshaping the Country House, 1650-1850

Between 1650 and 1850, the country house emerged as a leading site of artistic innovation, and stylistic experimentation. As a principal expression of familial status, identity, and social ambition, it underwent continual transformation in response to changing socio-cultural expectations. Art historical scholarship has traditionally interpreted these developments through the lenses of artistic achievements, aesthetic theory, and historical context. Comparatively little attention, however, has been paid to the ways technological advances and novel materials informed decorative practices, enabled new formal solutions, and reshaped perceptions of space, surface, structure, and ornament. Similarly, the material examination and analysis of these new decorative methods have often been overlooked.

This session examines the relationship between materials, techniques, and the formation of aesthetic concepts in the evolution of country house interiors. It asks how innovations such as ornamental plaster, papier-mâché, wallpaper and cast iron fostered emerging tastes and transformed the visual language of domestic architecture. Attention will be given to the cultural value of these materials and processes, shifting notions of fashion and taste, and the evolving roles of patrons, designers, craftsmen, and manufacturers. The session also explores how the temporality of materials, the diversification of product ranges, and the growing possibilities of industrial manufacture and reproduction affected decorative practice and consumption. These developments will be considered alongside contemporary debates on decorum, novelty, simulation, authenticity, material propriety, and sustainability within the frameworks of classical aesthetics, historicism, and emerging conservation concepts.

Contributions examining production and craftsmanship are especially welcome, illuminating how material qualities were created, manipulated, and employed, and how they shaped contemporary perceptions of materials and their use.

Themes: material, technique, country house

Lead Convenor: Daniela Roberts, Institute of Art History, University of Würzburg, Germany

Co-convenors: Gerry Alabone, National Trust Knole / City Guilds of London Art School, United Kingdom

To submit a Paper to this Session, please follow the guidance on our website and comlpete the AAH 2027 Call for Papers Proposal Submission Form.