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192
The House in Good Taste
·
Elsie De Wolfe
89
There
is
an
old
double-banked
harpsichord
of
the
early
Eighteenth
Century
in
the
Morgan
collection
at
the
Metropolitan
Museum
that
would
be
a
fine
form
for
a
piano,
if
it
would
hold
the
"works."
It
is
long
and
narrow,
fitting
against
the
wall
so
that
it
really
takes
up
very
little
room.
The
case
is
painted
a
soft
dark
gray
and
outlined
in
darker
gray,
and
the
panels
and
the
long
top
are
in
soft
colors.
The
legs
are
carved
and
pointed
in
polychrome.
This
harpsichord
was
made
when
the
beauty
of
an
object
was
of
as
real
importance
as
the
mechanical
perfection.
Occasionally
one
sees
a
modern
piano
that
has
been
decorated
by
an
artist.
Sir
Edward
Burne-Jones,
Sir
Alma
Tadema,
and
many
of
the
other
English
artists
of
our
generation
have
made
beautiful
pianos.
Sir
Robert
Lorimer
recently
designed
a
piano
that
was
decorated,
inside
and
out,
by
Mrs.
Traquair.
From
time
to
time
a
great
artist
interests
himself
in
designing
and
decorating
a
piano,
but
the
rank
and
file,
when
they
decide
to
build
an
extraordinary
piano,
achieve
lumpy
masses
of
wood
covered
with
impossible
nymphs
and
too-realistic
flowers,
pianos
suggestive
of
thin
and
sentimental
tunes,
but
never
of
music.
When
you
are
furnishing
your
music-room
or
drawing-room,
be
careful
always
of
your
colors.
Remember
that
not
only
must
the
room
be
beautiful
in
its
broad
spaces
and
long
lines
and
soft
colors,
but
it
must
be
a
background
for
the
gala
gowns
of
women.
I
once
saw
a
music-room
that
was
deliberately
planned
as
a
background
to
the
gay
colors
of
women's
gowns
and
the
heavy
black
masses
of
men's
evening
clothes,
a
soft
shimmering
green
and
cream
room
that
was
incomplete
and
cold
when
empty
of
the
color
of
costume.
Such
a
room
must
have
an
architectural
flavor.
The
keynote
must
be
elegant
simplicity
and
aristocratic
reserve.
Walls
broken
into
panels,
and
panels
in
turn
broken
by
lighting-fixtures,
a
polished
floor,
a
well-considered
ceiling,
any
number
of
chairs,
and
the
room
is
furnished.
This
room,
indeed,
may
evolve
into
a
salon.
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