Queen Anne Suite

Era: Queen Anne 1700-1720

Monarch: Queen Anne of England

Artist: Sir James Thornhill

Interior Characteristics:

• The Queen Anne style developed in England around 1700 and lasted until about 1720.
• This style was the English version of the French Rococo style.
• This period is England’s first style that emphasizes curving forms.
• Designers looked for a refined look, but they did not want to mimic or over decorate like the French style.
• The British designers used silhouetted figures and curving forms with no decoration.
• The furniture more lightweight and smaller.
• The interiors are understated and modest but more refined
• The furniture of this period has the curves of the French Rococo style, but it lacks the asymmetrical ornamentation and over the top carvings.
• Decoration is reduced to a scallop shell in the centre of the furniture piece.
• The main form or detail that is found in the Queen Anne style is the Ccurved cabriole leg.
• The residence’s interiors are modest in form, painted surfaces and simple plaster decorations.
• Floors are parquet with oriental rugs.
• The English of the Queen Anne period prefer Brass lighting fixtures unlike that of the French who prefer crystal.