PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Historic types of wallpaper and decorative schemes of interiors
Figure 10. A princess’ bedroom with restored chinoiserie wallpapers in
Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt.
emphasise the room’s significance. However, in terms of patterns
of Chinese wallpapers, there is no correlation between a
room’s function and the pattern choice. 74
In the case of the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria (for
more, see pp. 256–271), the most probable reason for arranging
several chinoiserie rooms were the two documented visits
of Empress Maria Theresia in 1742 and 1779. 75 Such interiors
were at the height of their popularity during her reign, between
the 1740s and 1790s. (Fig. 10) The same period marked a new
stage in British interest in China, which brought the imported
hangings into vogue in both England and France.
Starting in the 1750s there was a gradual increase in interest
in antiquity. By the 1760s Rococo had been replaced by the more
serious and orderly Neo-Classicism, which spread throughout
Europe and started to replace the beloved Rocaille and chinoiseire
decorations. 76
74
Ibidem.
75
Berger, Chinoiserien in Österreich-Ungarn, 166.
76
Thümmler, Die Geschichte der Tapete, 63.
45