"The consummation of empire": the Vansyckel family bedchamber suite
Date
1998
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The following study interprets the Vansyckel family bedchamber suite, executed by Philadelphia cabinetmaker Isaac Jones circa 1833 in the late classical taste or so-called Empire style, within a multi-layered conception of "empire." The many manifestations of "empire" encompass the intersection of imperialism (subjugation, colonization and exploitation), categories of art historical style (Neoclassicism, including Empire and Greek Revival) and patriarchy. The Vansyckel family bedchamber suite is a relic of the small-scale urban order that Elijah and Sarah Vansyckel constructed in ante-bellum Philadelphia through their business, real estate, children, personal possessions, and associations. As objects that concretized and enacted the Vansyckels' "empire," the bedchamber suite operated in concert with similar "monuments," such as a family portrait painted by L. S. De Bibory in 1842, the family enclave that Elijah Vansyckel established on either side of Arch Street between Fifteenth and Sixteenth Streets, and the family plot in Laurel Hill Cemetery. In turn, the Vansyckels' realm flourished within the larger project of American empire evident in Philadelphia during the first half of the nineteenth century. Situated within a complex network of social relations, the Vansyckel bedchamber suite and related artifacts were the loci of empire's operations commingled with those of intimacy, kinship and display. Together, they staked and structured a family microcosm, concomitant with public and private manifestations of imperialism ranging from Greek Revival architecture and decorative arts to ante-bellum political and social upheavals.