Ways of Seeing the English Domestic Interior, 1500-1700: the case of decorative textiles

This network brings together researchers in the humanities and sciences, conservators, museums curators and heritage professionals to address a central research question: how would people have experienced and engaged with the visual and material properties of the domestic interior in early modern England, and how might we analyse and represent those experiences in the present. To focus this network we have selected decorative textiles with figurative imagery as a case study because these objects raise particular questions about the dynamics of perception: narrative (reading), visual (form and colour) and material (texture). Decorative textiles were the most ubiquitous form of domestic furnishing in early modern England but few survive and the extant objects present significant challenges for interpretation, conservation, display and presentation (for example, they are particularly vulnerable to damage and surface deterioration caused by light and touch).

As well as accommodating the practical needs of everyday life, domestic interiors of any size during the period 1500-1700 were decorated and furnished to express a range of concerns including wealth, identity, belief, education, gender, taste and fashion. Yet scholarship and museum practice has focused overwhelmingly on describing the form, techniques and appearance of domestic buildings and furnishings without probing the culturally-specific and multi-sensory forms of perception that informed interpretation and experience of this environment. It is therefore necessary to establish a dedicated research network to investigate ways of studying how contemporaries would have perceived and engaged with their material surroundings.

This subject requires sustained multi-disciplinary investigation because of the extent of its implications for academic research, museums practice and public impact. Understanding the domestic context for everyday life is not only an emergent area of academic attention and debate, it is also a central interest of visitors to museums and historic properties who want to gain a meaningful experience of period interiors based on current understanding of their physical and conceptual authenticity. Through a series of workshops, a conference, special issue of a leading academic journal and series of podcasts, this network aims to facilitate innovative and collaborative cross-disciplinary approaches to researching the history of the domestic interior and inform new directions for display and presentation.

The network crosses the boundaries between Humanities and Science disciplines to exchange knowledge about historical artefacts and environments and explore the possible applications of new expertise, technologies and methods in psychology, neuroscience, computing and digital archaeology, which enable investigation of the specificity of visual perception in relation to particular objects and settings (for example, new developments in mobile eye-tracking) and through the digital reconstruction and simulation of historic environments.

The network comprises 17 experts including researchers on domestic interiors and/or textiles in the disciplines of English, History, Art history and Archaeology; researchers on visual perception in the cognitive sciences; computer scientists; conservators, curators and heritage professionals who are also researchers in this area. We will also engage postgraduate students starting work in this field in workshop activities and in progressing the impact aims. The network facilitates exchange across 14 institutions including 6 universities and 7 national and regional museums.

Beneficiaries within the museums and heritage sector:

The beneficiaries of this project outside the academic research community include individuals within the museums and heritage sector who will be able to use the results of the network's research and findings to enhance a wide range of activities surrounding the interpretation and presentation of their collections of culturally significant historic buildings and objects. Findings will be communicated to them both through the individuals directly involved in network meetings and through dedicated online forums such as the Histories of Home SSN.

Beneficiaries within the wider public:

The outputs of this project will benefit the wider public of visitors to museums and heritage properties by stimulating interest in and improving knowledge about the domestic interior. As the project will improve knowledge about and access to the surviving material evidence of the early modern period by expanding and enhancing the resources that are publicly available for interpretation of our national heritage, there is considerable potential for this research to enhance both quality of life and creative output.

The research will impact directly on primary- and secondary-level education as it is concerned with the stories we tell about history using the rich legacy of objects that survive from the past, and makes the Tudor/Stuart/Shakespearean era more tangible for students. Close working relations between the network participants and education departments within the key partner museums will ensure communication of relevant research findings from the project to the staff involved in the learning programmes. The network events and findings will also be communicated to the wider public through online resources of the key partner museums including specially-recorded podcasts of selected material from the workshops.

The realistic timescales for these benefits to be realised are within the second year of the project and beyond, as research is disseminated through outputs such as the workshops, on-line forums, as well as the publication of the special issue of Textile History. But there are also lasting benefits in relation to the increased profile of the partners' national and regional collections, a greater store of knowledge and improved resources, which will continue to benefit and impact on the experience of a range of constituencies within the wider public who access information about museums and historic houses through physical and virtual channels.