Elizabethan style mirror; Spain, c. 1850.

Elizabethan style mirror; Spain, c. 1850.
Stuccoed and gilded wood.
Preserves old moon.
Measurements: 174 x 153; 136 x 96 cm (moon).
Formally, the Elizabethan style is distinguished by the abundance of decoration, with frequent use of scrolls, garlands, vegetal motifs and sinuous profiles. The furniture and objects present robust but elegantly curved volumes, with a clear intention of ostentation. In materials, the use of noble woods, rich tapestries and worked metals such as silver or bronze stand out.
More than a unitary style, the Elizabethan style reflects a historicist sensibility typical of the 19th century, where the past becomes a formal repertoire. Its relevance lies in having shaped the aesthetics of Spanish bourgeois interiors of the time, laying the foundations for the subsequent evolution towards more internationalized trends such as full eclecticism and, by the end of the century, modernism.