Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain

Excellent exhibition at the British Library to mark 3000 years since George I came to the throne looking at how life in England had changed by the time the last Hanoverian king died.

I had been lucky enough to have a curator tour of this exhibition before Christmas but was pleased to come back and look in more detail at the exhibits. The curator had been fascinating on how the show was arranged and what they had chosen to put in and leave out.

I thought the detail of this show was fantastic from looking up at the period marble payer backs of the cartoons and newspaper articles outlining the history of the period in the entrance section to the light dialogue between sections such as the Jane Austen references without a Jane Austen section.

I loved the section on shopping and the growth of consumerism and so wanted to go to the ceramics shop which also sold chandeliers! I liked the way the growth of interior design at this period from whole Adams interiors to people buying wallpaper for their homes. A lovely touch was to have a card of a wallpaper manufacture in the section on trades people. Supporting this section with a display in innovation and new products and another on transport improvements was a good idea.

I found people were quite talkative in the show. I think this was because so many of the things and ideas reminded you of how we live now and you felt a real connection to them.

Reviews
Independent
Evening Standard


 

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