The following paintings and prints of English interiors generally correspond to James Logan's years in Pennsylvania (1699-1751). The images suggest the types of gatherings and uses of furnishings and objects that certainly also happened at Stenton. They provoke our imaginations and help us to envision such scenes actually taking place in the various rooms of the Logan mansion, which was after all a Colonial British country house of the best sort.

(click on image for larger size)

The Gough Family by William Verelst, 1741

Sir Henry Gough, a man of business, was a lawyer and Director of the East India Company from 1735-1751. This paneled parlor with "scrutoire," Queen Anne-style side chairs and tea table could almost be the Parlour at Stenton. People of both genders are using the space simultaneously. Charles Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, plate 157, page 171.

The Family of John Bacon by Arthur Devis, c. 1742-43

Like Logan, Bacon cultivated an amateur interest in scientific experiment. A transit quadrant for tracking the sun and stars is on the tripod base near the window. A reflecting telescope sits on the bracket table. In the back room are a library bookcase, an air pump and a compass microscope, as well as a pair of globes. The Bacons could again almost be the Logans: a mother and father and their two sons and two daughters amuse themselves near an arched opening flanked by pilasters, not unlike the entry hall arch at Stenton. Charles Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, plate 152, page 166.

Design for a state bedchamber by Daniel Marot, c. 1698

Like in the Yellow Lodging Room at Stenton, this room is about display of costly textiles. While both rooms were for sleeping, they were for entertaining, with a full set of chairs at the perimeter of the room. Charles Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, plate 6, page 22. See also, Peter Thornton, Authentic Décor: The Domestic Interior, 1620-1920. New York: Random House, 1984, plate 99, page 81.

Mr. Woodbridge and Captain Holland by William Hogarth, 1730

A servant brings a receipt interrupting a discussion of legal matters between Woodbridge and his client, another such scene that could have taken place, perhaps in the office at Stenton. Charles Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, plate 84, page 102.

Sir Thomas Sebright, Sir John Bland and two friends by Benjamin Ferrers, 1720

The four men sit on upholstered back stools at an oval table covered in a white cloth smoking clay pipes. A servant has entered through a narrow door with a pitcher of wine. Some of the men have removed their wigs. One wig rests on the windowsill, a second hangs over the top of a chair. One candle is lighted for the entire party. Charles Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, plate 64, page 86.

Nicol Graham of Gartmore and two friends in a library attributed to Gawen Hamilton, c. 1732

Three men sit and discuss books. Logan, Bartram and Franklin may have done the same at Stenton, perhaps in Logan's Library in the Blue Lodging Room. Charles Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, plate 91, page 107.

Thomas Smith and his family by Robert West, 1733

A family gathers for tea in a paneled parlor. The fireplace has a marble surround. A black servant, possibly a slave, who appears to be a boy, waits by the hot water kettle. This image suggests the sort of entertainment one might have experienced in the Stenton Parlour. Charles Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, plate 90, page 107.

The Strong Family by Charles Philips, 1732

Tea is served in an elegantly appointed room that includes window curtains and a pair of "Sconce glasses," two items included on the 1752 inventory of the Yellow Lodging Room at Stenton. Here again a servant boy attends to the hot water pot. This room is fitted with damask patterned wallpaper or textile panels and trimmed with gilt braid. Whether there was such decoration at Stenton is a question to address in further research. Charles Saumarez Smith, Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, plate 89, page 106.

 

 

 

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