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Room Tour at Winterthur, Part One

Bob returns to Winterthur in Delaware's Brandywine Valley. Vila and Winterthur's Pauline Eversmann first visit the Tappahannock Room circa 1740. Highlights from the display include a chest thought to be the first deliberate acquisition in du Pont's American furniture collection. Also on display is a William & Mary-style high chest and an antique fireplace mantel painted in a green Henry du Pont described as "a perfectly swell color." The tour continues in the Flock Room, an early Baroque-influenced room featuring dramatic canvas wallcoverings, flocked to emulate costlier velvet wallpaper from France, and ornate door surrounds. Vila and Eversmann then continue on to the Fraktur room, decorated in a Pennsylvania German style that is punctuated with bright color, faux finishes, and elaborate architecture.
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Room Tour at Winterthur, Part One

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" So Pauline we're just gonna visit four or five spewing areas -- hundred since I'm -- picture and what's this room called."

" Is called attack panic room because the paneling comes from -- Virginia was the dates of the we think about 1740 based on the architectural evidence and what mr. Du Pont did you -- the architecture in my whole rooms."

" Dismantled them and put them back together that's right yeah it. I'm the paint colors pretty special."

" Well the fireplace is actually the original color green and the rest of the paneling was it was painted to match that color. HF Du Pont loved green he gave it his ultimate accolade he said it was a perfect at least what I would swell color terrific now what I've never."

" is this kind of we called a tripartite paneling raised panels that start off at the top with little ones and in fact if you go to the corner back here you see that they're little vertical rectangles and then they turn into little squares and it into bigger rectangles. Is that just an accident is that when."

" actually this is based on an English design but it was made by a local craftsman. And I think that's what makes it special is that he put his own mark onto it and -- be interesting geometric configuration and change in the frieze is what makes it very unique. We only know of one other house with paneling like this state. What about the furniture in here army that now looks at a very early chest and says what 171737. And indeed it is an early chest but what makes it really special to when he -- Is that we consider this the first piece of American furniture. That Du Pont bought after he made a deliberate decision to begin collecting Americana. Yes I probably the initials of the man who commissioned the piece. On the other side of the room we have some very elegant facade. Is that -- through can -- case -- argument here are called a high chest today it's in the so called William and Mary style and you can tell that by the trumpet turning on the lay -- and the distinctive veneer paddling. -- this is really actually a very important piece because it was made by Samuel Clemens and we know that because he inscribed his name on the bottom of the chest. -- another victorians liked flocked wallpaper but this is early seventeen hundred's right yes it is and it is it wallpaper in fact well actually it's canvas and the -- achieved the design was to put the design on with glue and then blow Walsh hearings across the surface and that they would it here where the clueless and that's how you got your design and the wild colors were. Perfectly normal in the period this is the time in our history we refer to is the early baroque. So you have these very elaborate symmetrical designs. See the design up there on the Mir is very closely echoed in the design in the wallpaper sure that's mister DuPont sci network. Absolutely tell me about the architecture of the room well the architecture is very significant that comes from an early Virginia home probably about 1725. Called -- radical -- okay. And the let me just point out the door to you for example this is the only expansion for the earliest to stand Virginia paneled door that we have. It's it's particularly important for that reason and then if you look at what is three panels around that's right. I if you look at the Doris around. The color that is on the rest of the paneling in the room was taken from that door surround because that is the original that is the original paint kind of a gray blue wash. What about this fireplace well with the over metal paintings there is no identification for the paint dean it's probably an English house what makes it interstate when a tour is that Du Pont purchased these three panels. Before he purchased the architecture for the room and it was only afterwards when they got the architecture here that they realized that they actually belonged together. -- beautiful room it really is and next. Next we're going to the -- room."

" what is a track tour well a factor is a Pennsylvania German document that commemorates a birth a baptism. Confirmation death. The board Procter actually means broken writing refers to the the gothic script they used in the original documents. In German later on of course they did switch to -- are they always. -- are so colorful art that's very typical of the Pennsylvania German decorative techniques. Now the architecture is very impressive as are the colors. It's very elaborate if you if you look out and start look at that dental molding there across the top and then your eye comes down and you see it repeated again on the mantel -- I'm hearing you have lots of different kinds of faux painting techniques. You have marbleizing. -- and then down here you have kind of this almost I get like effect and if you look here this is not -- this is the actual. Yes actually this has been what they did is they scraped off layers of later added paint to get back to the original designs. And if you. Lecture I look at that and then come on over here and look at this chest you see that same kind of almost all get design here in this this dowry -- really brightened column please see the unicorn with your very typical of the Pennsylvania Germans. On the tripartite division and again use -- was this a marriage chest -- they often say that they either sometimes called our chests but really they were all purpose storage used to store linens and and household items. The architecture. I can't say enough about this particular room because the woodwork is so impressive well you can see the -- detailing over the door what you really interesting here also is this is this corner covered. When you think that this. This house was constructed in 1783. In Pennsylvania I think it speaks very well for the sophistication of the area as well as the craftsmen in the area this is -- it's pretty interesting stuff it's beautiful."

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