Elegant architectural carving.(Design notes)

On pages 110-117 of this issue, Jason T. Busch gives a detailed account of the creation of the boiserie for an early eighteenth-century Parisian mansion and its recent restoration and installation in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. While eighteenth-century American houses never reached the same level of grandeur as their French counterparts during the same period, there are a respectable number of late eighteenth-century houses in this country with exquisite carving in their principal rooms.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Some of the more complex carving is found in Virginia. A fine example is Kenmore in Fredericksburg, where the molded and applied plaster ornament and the carved wooden elements may have been executed by an unidentified Frenchman. The carver is referred to disparagingly in a letter from Fielding Lewis, the builder of Kenmore, to his brother-in-law, George Washington, complaining about the amount of time the craftsman was taking. The same carver may also have been responsible for the carved woodwork at Mount Vernon.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Those fortunate enough to own a house or preside over a public building with carved embellishments are custodians of important survivals of eighteenth- and ...