The pictures find their place in a complete surveyof domestic—and some more palatial—interiors portrayed in art from the ancient world to thelate nineteenthcentury, and including worksby Vermeer, Hogarth, Durer,Degas, and Vuillard. The text goes beyond scholarly commentary to present an evolving picture of men and women in relation to domestic surroundings, full of human interest, wit, and wide-ranging cultural references.

The appeal of this extraordinary book lies in its rapt obsession with the detailsof thedomestic interior,borne out in a wonderfullyrich collection of pictures. These charmingpaintings and watercolors, mostly dating from 1770 to 1860 and coming from all over Europe,Russia, and America, record with faithful accuracy the shape of a room,the pattern of a carpet, thefurniture, pictures, fabrics, andwall coverings, the hang of the curtains andthe fall ofthe light they admit.

Introduction
Notes to the Introduction
Illustrations and commentary
Greek and Roman Furnishings
The Medieval House
Late Medieval Interiors
Late Gothic Furniture
15th Century Italian Interiors
Interiors in the Paintings of Vittore Carpaccio
Interiors in Florentine Renaissance Painting
The Scholar's Cell
16th Century Interiors in the Engravings of van der Straet
17th Century Flemish Interiors in the Paintings of Frans Franken
Dutch Interiors in 17th Century Emblem Books
Opulent Flemish Interiors in the Paintings of van Bassen
Louis XIII Interiors in the Engravings of Abraham Bosse
Interiors in 17th Century Dutch Painting Wunderkammern and Patrician Galleries
English Interiors of the 18th Century
Gothic Taste in 18th Century England
Louis XV Interiors:
Innovations in Furniture and the Distribution of Apartments
The Classical Influence and the Development of the Louis XVI Style
An lnterest in Humble Interiors and Precious Furniture
Early Neoclassical Interiors
Interiors by Percier and Fontaine: The Inspiration of Herculaneum
The Recueil of Percier and Fontaine: The "Bible of Empire Style"
Archeological Trends in England: Interiors and Furniture by Thomas Hope
Empire Interiors
Watercolor Interiors by Garnerey
Empire Interiors in Naples
From Empire to Biedermeier
The Timelessness of Humble Interiors
The Biedermeier Stirnmung in the Paintings of Georg Friedrich Kersting
Interior Views as Portraits of Famous Persons
The Bonapartes in Exile--The Round Table of Queen Hortense
Early 19th Century Florentine Interiors
Biedermeier Interiors of the Bourbons in Naples
Biedermeier Interiors of the Court of Marie-Louise at Parma
Bourgeois Interiors and the Sense of Intimacy
19th Century Kitchens
American and English Interiors of the Early 19th Century
The Brighton Pavilion
The Home and Museum of Sir John Soane
Sovereigns' Studies of the Early 19th Century
Interiors of the German Royal Palaces in the Early 19th Century:
Interiors by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
The Zimmerlaube
Neo-Gothic Taste and Ornament
Wallpaper, Curtains and Tile Stoves
The Mode of Raphael
The Empire Style in German Palaces: The Munich Residenz
Interiors of the Tegernsee Castle: Empire--Biedermeier
Russian Interiors, 1820's-1850's
Danish Interiors of about 1830
Cafes, Osterie, and Gathering Places
Artists' Studios
The Chigi Album
Dutch Interiors, 1830-1840
The Album of Queen Sophia of Holland
Innovations: The Pouf.
Character of the Furnishing--Character of the Owner
Children and Flowers
Around the Table
The World Outside
Influence of the Great Exhibition of 1851
Residences of Foreigners in Italy
Watercolor Interiors by Fernand Pelez
Exaltation of the Stuffed Chair
The Style Louis XVI--Imperatrice
The Chateau de Ferrieres of the Baron de Rothschild
The Twilight of the Biedermeier Spirit: A Comparison between Interiors of the 1840's and 1860's.
The Styleless Interior
The Clutter of Bric-a-Brac and Junk: The Makart-Bukett
The Japanese Vogue and the Eclecticism of the 19th Century
The Intimism of Interiors by Vuillard
Art Nouveau Interiors
Notes to the Commentary and Index