The Artist Who Got Carried Away: The Story of The Peacock Room

In 1876, the British shipping magnate Frederick Richards Leyland bought himself a grand house at 49 Princes Gate in the fashionable neighbourhood of Kensington in London. Shortly after, he engaged architect Richard Norman Shaw to remodel and redecorate his home. Redesigning the dining room, however, was entrusted to the gifted architect Thomas Jeckyll, who was known for his Anglo-Japanese styles. Leyland had a large collection of Chinese blue and white porcelain, mostly from the Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty, which he wanted to display in his dining room. For these, Jeckyll constructed an intricate lattice framework of engraved spindled walnut shelves, and complemented them with antique gilded leather which he hung from the walls. A painting by the American artist James McNeill Whistler, called The Princess from the Land of Porcelain, occupied a coveted place above the fireplace. At that time, Whistler himself was working on another part of the house, overseeing the decorations for the entrance hall. When Jeckyll asked Leyland what colours to use for the dinning room shutters and doors, Leyland suggested that he consult Whistler on the colour schemes. Whistler thought the colours of the carpet's border and of the flowers on the leather wall hangings clashed with the colors in The Princesse. With Leyland’s permission, Whistler volunteered to retouch the walls with traces of yellow. He also added a wave pattern on the cornice and woodwork derived from the design in Jeckyll's leaded-glass door. Leyland approved these changes and went back to his business in Liverpool. Jeckyll also took ill and was forced to abandon the project. Alone and unsupervised, Whistler began to take a few liberties with the dining room. He covered the entire room, from the ceiling to the walls, with Dutch metal, or imitation gold leaf, over which he painted a lush pattern of peacock feathers.