Portrait of Queen Victoria in Diamond Tiara
VICTORIAN JEWELRY
The Art and History
The Early Victorian Period 1837-1860
The Romantic Period
The Victorian Period covers the time span from the coronation for Queen Victoria in 1837 until the Edwardian-Belle Epoch Period at the end of the 19th Century. Jewelry deisgn during the reign of Queen Victoria was influenced by historical and cultural events as well as technological innovations arising from the Industrial Revolution.
The Victorian Age named for the many years of the long reign of Queen Victoria of England began in 1837 and lasted until her death in 1901. This 64 year time span can be divided into three periods, early, mid and late, each with a distinct design style, the Romantic Period 1837-1861, the Grand Period 1861-1880, and the Aesthetic Period 1880-1901.
Queen Victoria in her Coronation Robes and Jewels with Diamond Parure and Tiara
The Romantic Period, had actually already begun slightly earlier in Art and Literature but in jewelry design it coincided with the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837 and her romance and marriage to Prince Albert in 1840.
Romanticism was a response to the upheaval of the late 18th Century, with its idealistic and utopian view of man’s ability to control his world and government, as demonstrated by the American and French Revolutions, followed by the campaigns of Napoleon and his short lived Empire. After the Age of Enlightenment resulted in the massive bloodletting of the French Revolution and the Neo-Classical era of Napoleon with its terrible losses in Russia and eventual defeat by the British at Waterloo, prevailing philosophy took on a darker, less optimistic view of mankind’s place in the world.
The intellectual focus shifted away from the rationalism of Classical Antiquity to the sentimentalism, emotionalism, intuition and mystery of the Medieval Age particularly the Gothic Period with a focus on folklore. The Romantic Movement was also a response from the the growth of city populations with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. As cities became more overcrowded and frantic, Romantics were fascinated with the countryside, forests, mountains, oceans and all of untamed nature.
In German literature, authors such as The Grimm Brothers and ETA Hoffman with their dark tales and focus on the supernatural evoked the Romantic aesthetic. In England, Percy Blysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and William Blake were well known Romantic Authors. Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Washington Irving brought the Romantic tradition to American Literature carried on by Emily Dickenson and Herman Melville. In addition to a focus on the supernatural and the occult there was a passion for the exotic and the heroic exemplified by the poetry and life of Lord Byron.
The Romantic tradition was also seen in works of the prevalent artist of that time. The paintings of Kaspar David Freidrich evoked a world where nature was mysterious and powerful which man could not control, only observe. The Hudson River School in the United States continued that tradition in landscape painting. In France, artists such as Theodore Gericault, with his masterpiece “The Raft of the Medusa” and his portraits of mental patients showed the harshness of Nature and man’s inability to control his fate. The ultimate Romantic artist was probably Francisco Goya with “The Third of May” and his Black Paintings particularly the horrific “Saturn Devouring his Children”
In music the greatest composers of the early 19th Century were considered to Romantic Composers. George Sand, the proto-feminist Romantic novelist wrote about music: "the most beautiful of all the arts," the honour of being able to paint "all the shades of sentiment and all the phases of passion." "Music," she said "can express everything. For describing scenes of nature it has ideal colours and lines, neither exact nor yet too minute, but which are all the more vaguely and delightfully poetical.” Certainly this author was no stranger to music or to passion having been not only a friend of Franz Liszt but the lover of Frederick Chopin. In addition to Liszt and Chopin, the great Romantic composers were Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner and of course Beethoven.
Portrait of Nanette Heine with Gold Girandole Bodice Brooch and Gold Arrow Hair Ornament
With the advent of the early Victorian Period, women’s fashions changed from the empire-waisted, décolleté, short puffed sleeved, softly draped dresses of the Late Georgian – Neo Classical Period to the lower-waisted, longer sleeved, fuller skirted, dresses with a wide cut neckline. These new fashions were combined with new designs in jewelry. For formal dress women typically wore a velvet ribbon choker style with a brooch attached to the front and a lozenge or navette shaped bodice brooch set with gemstones. Bracelets also were worn singularly or in multiples on each wrist. With the waist again emphasized, chatelains were commonly worn.
Portrait of Princess de Broglie with Gold Etruscan Pendant, Gold Braclelet, Pearl Tassel Earrings and Multistrand Pearl Bracelet
The focus on Medievalism led to revival based jewelry design with Gothic and Renaissance motifs. This was also the age of the great revivalist jewelers of Italy, Castellani and Giuliano who were master goldsmiths. From these jewelers came the finest Etruscan, Egyptian and Renaissance Revival jewelry.
Portrait of Suzanne Hastings with gold Jewelry
Snakes were a popular motif symbolizing eternal love. Flowers and leaves were realistically designed in scrolled gold. Continuing from the Georgian period were the use of coral, turquoise, hardshell cameos, bloodstone, goldstone, enamel, and pearls. Colored gemstones were set both foil backed and a jour.
Portrait of Elanor Pavlovna with Pearl Necklace and Snake Bracelet
Stylistically, the Victorians looked to both Classical and Gothic Periods for inspiration. Etruscan Revival Jewelry was known for the clean and elegant simplicity of ancient Greek and Roman design and detailed by granulation and scrolled gold wire work. Master Italian goldsmiths, such as Castellani, were famous for their work in this style. Other Etruscan Revival pieces, include Cameos of carved lava, hardstone or shell, in yellow gold, which were detailed with scenes from classic mythology or jewelry created in micro mosaic and pietra dura. Gods and goddesses, nymphs and warriors, were all prevalent as well as motifs consisting of grapes, vines, swags and garlands.
Portrait of Woman with Gold Chain Necklace and Gold Tassel Earrings
In 1848 a new artistic movement known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed by by John Everette Millais as a response to the prevailing Victorian aesthetic. The key founding artists in addition to Millais were Dante Gabriel Rosetti and William Holman Hunt. These artists were inspired by Medieval themes such as the Aurthurian legends and their works were full of symbolism and idealized chivlary and romance. The primary subject of these works were women dressed in stylized Medieval and Renaissance dress in natural settings.
The Pre-Rapaelite artistic movement coincided with the popularity of Gothic and Renaissance Revival Jewelry, known for its romantic look Revivalist Jewelry consisted of pendant earrings, brooches and pendants, often enamel and embellished with flowers and garlands accented by seed pearls and turquoise, necklaces and bracelets, either bangle or mesh style with taille d'epergne enamel work on buckle motif slides with foxtail tassels or ornate slides with foliate motifs.
Portrait of Victorian Sisters with Braided Hair Bracelet
The Mid-Victorian Period 1861-1880
The Grand Period
The Grand Period began in 1861 upon the death of Queen Victoria’s beloved Prince Albert. The Queen went into mourning not only donned black attire and mourning jewelry, she required the court to do likewise. That same year brought the beginning of the Civil War so there was reason to mourn in both the United States and Great Britian.
Since mourning required not only a change in clothes but a change in jewelry as well the Grand Period became the high point of mourning jewelry. While mourning jewelry had been worn since the Georgian Period, the styles and importance of it increased in the mid 19th Century. Georgian mourning jewelry consisted of small gold pins, lockets or rings designed with a center compartment covered with glass or crystal that held a braided lock of hair. Another early type of mourning jewelry was a gold ring with lettering on black enamel. Grand Period mourning jewelry included a variety of items made in black materials, whether jet (fossilized coal), French jet (black glass), black onyx, black enamel or dyed horn. Black, so to speak became the new black, and black jewelry became desirable even for women not in mourning.
Portrait of Empress Marie Alexandranova in Pearls and Bodice Brooch
The Grand Period is an apt description for the silhouette and style that was prevalent in women’s fashions. Dresses became grander with fuller skirts requiring hoops and crinoline petticoats. Necklines continued to be low and wide across the shoulders or boatline and sleeves stayed puffed to either the forearm or to the wrist. If not in mourning women wore brightly colored gowns embellished with bows, ribbons, ruffles, lace, flounces, bustles, fringe, trains and flowers.
This larger silhouette demanded larger more prominent jewelry including necklaces, lockets, bracelets and earrings designed in a larger scale. This trend in embellishment was carried over into jewelry design with earrings, lockets and bracelets decorated with engraving, scrolled and twisted gold wirework, taille d’epargne enamel and fringe. Bracelets became wider, earrings became longer, lockets became larger and chains became heavier. In addition, the materials in mid Victorian jewelry became heavier in scale and stronger in color. In addition to gold, the materials typically used were turquoise, coral, jet, onyx, bloodstone, goldstone, horn, tortoiseshell, lapis, lava, shell and hardstone. The exception to this was a unique and delicate material that became popular at this time, human hair. Earrings, bracelets necklaces, pendants and brooches were made out of woven hair held together by gold fittings.
Portrait of Woman with Gold Locket and Bangle Bracelet
Revival jewelry, which began in the Romantic Period, came to its peak in popularity during the Grand Period as the passion for archeology and historical discovery continued. For the first time Revival jewelry became widely seen when it was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition Universelle in 1867. The Italian goldsmith Castellani was the master of Etruscan and Egyptian jewelry. Giuliano, an Italian jeweler based in London became the master of Renaissance jewelry. Fontenay, Brogden, Froment Meurice and Boucheron were also known for their Revival jewelry.
Portrait of Angnes Poynter in Revival Jewelry 1867
With the trend for the wealthy to take a "Grand Tour" of Italy and to be exposed to Italian archetecture, art, design and fashions, Italian art forms such as cameos, micro mosaic and pietra dura were at their peak of popularity. While cameos could be of any subject, they were generally created with a woman’s silhouette, sometimes with a classical theme such as a goddess or bacchante. Cameos of shell, lava and hardstone were used in bracelets, rings, brooches and pendants. Intaglios, an ancient form of jewelry where the design is engraved in hardstone, also were popular and mostly used in watch fobs. Micromosaic and pietra dura, both specifically Italian forms of mosaic were commonly used in jewelry. Micromosaic used tiny pieces of glass and pietra dura used thin slices of colored stone. Flowers, animals, butterflies and birds were popular motifs as well as Italian architecture and classical ruins.
Portrait of Mid-Victorian woman with Coral Jewelry
By the beginning of the Grand Period, the Industrial Revolution was well underway in all manufacturing including the manufacture of jewelry. The technique for die stamping and gold plating led to the ability to produce inexpensive jewelry that could be sold to the rising middle class. This mass produced jewelry was often engraved by hand and decorated with taille d’epargne enamel. Hinged bangle bracelets are probably the most associated with use of taille d’epargne enamelwork. Stamped gold was also used to create bookchain necklaces which were used to suspend lockets.
Portrait of Countess Zubova with wide Gold Bracelet and Pearls
Victorian Earrings
Victorian Necklaces
Victorian Lockets
Victorian Bracelets
Victorian Cameos
Victorian Diamond Brooches |
