Interior decoration was part of the substantial investment in domestic building and another way to display status for people like the Wyld family. The new extension to 43 High Street in Reigate in the 1620s was adorned with a set of wall paintings. Painted directly onto the wall surface, the floral decoration is a key part of the overall design and atmosphere of the space.<br /> <br /> The paintings originally stretched across all four walls and the ceiling. They were brightly coloured and would have had a striking impact. Repeated and expansive patterns were fashionable throughout the later 1500s and the 1600s, but the choice of floral decoration here (rather than geometric) might refer to the location of the room at the rear of the property, looking onto a yard or flower gardens (another sign of status). There was a fashion for floral decoration across the decorative arts, evoking flowers’ scent which might be considered beneficial to health. <br /> <br /> hile fixed surface decoration like this would have been quite common in middling houses, it is rarely mentioned in inventories of the period because these documents only listed moveable and saleable goods.
Wall painting (Painting), 1620s

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Wall painting

Wall painting (Painting), 1620s

Interior decoration was part of the substantial investment in domestic building and another way to display status for people like the Wyld family. The new extension to 43 High Street in Reigate in the 1620s was adorned with a set of wall paintings. Painted directly onto the wall surface, the floral decoration is a key part of the overall design and atmosphere of the space.

The paintings originally stretched across all four walls and the ceiling. They were brightly coloured and would have had a striking impact. Repeated and expansive patterns were fashionable throughout the later 1500s and the 1600s, but the choice of floral decoration here (rather than geometric) might refer to the location of the room at the rear of the property, looking onto a yard or flower gardens (another sign of status). There was a fashion for floral decoration across the decorative arts, evoking flowers’ scent which might be considered beneficial to health.

hile fixed surface decoration like this would have been quite common in middling houses, it is rarely mentioned in inventories of the period because these documents only listed moveable and saleable goods.

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Object Type Painting
Year 1620s
Owned By Weald and Downland Living Museum
Keywords displaying; assets; self-fashioning; decoration; craftsmanship; home; paint; visual culture
Image Credit © Weald and Downland Living Museum.

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