Smithsonian Restores Whistler's "Peacock Room" to Its Original Glory
The American artist's only extant interior, perhaps the most iconic example of British Aestheticism, is a star attraction at the The Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C.
For the first time in more than a century, James McNeill Whistler's Peacock Room can be seen as the artist originally intended it, now that the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art has restored the iconic installation to its original splendor.
The room, Whistler's only extant decorative interior, began life as the London dining room of British shipping magnate Frederick Leyland. Whistler's first major patron, Leyland wanted his home in Kensington "to be a palace of art to match his cultural standing," says curator Lee Glazer, director of Colby College's Lunder Institute for American Art.
The commission for the room had
