Victorian era (1837 - 1901)
Historical background
-Queen Victoria’s reign
-Industrial Revolution (c. 1760-1840), manufacturing
-rise in travel & the “Grand Tour,”
-expansion of British empire (esp. India)
-American Civil War (1861-5)
-discovery of diamond fields in South Africa (1866)
Materials & techniques
granulation, micromosaic, beginnings of mass production, die struck & hand assembled, lower karat alloys, gold plate, pinchbeck,
Themes & motifs
-REVIVAL! Gothic, Renaissance, Rococo, Etruscan, Egyptian, and combos of each
makers to know
Castellani, Giuliano, Boucheron, Chaumet (Nitot)
Must haves
some kind of snake, micromosaic, tiara / necklace
ROMANTIC period
(1837 - 1861)
ROMANCE! Nation’s love for Queen Victoria & her love for her husband, Sentimental & meaningful - hearts, serpents (like her engagement ring), St. Esprit doves, stars, butterflies, language of flowers, acrostic, tokens of affection not just romantic
GRAND period
(1861 - 1885)
Historical background: Queen Victoria in mourning after deaths of both her mother, Duchess of Kent & husband, Prince Albert, in 1861, 2nd empire (Napoleon III & Empress Eugenie)
Techniques & Materials: jet, onyx, garnet, low karat gold
Themes: MOURNING & remembrance
Aesthetic period
(1885 - 1901)
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