THE VICTORIAN STYLE During Queen VICTORIA’s long reign, (she was intimately related with the French Empress EUGENIE and offered her hospitality when the Empire collapsed) England went through a period of splendor as well. The industrial era was growing all over Europe, seaborne trade was increasing and huge fortunes were built up. Profusion of precious woods, from China and Cashmere (imported by the Indies’ Company) filled traders and nobles’ luxurious houses. These traditional boudoirs and parlors were brilliantly lightened by unusual Papier Mâché pieces, like gueridons, chairs, needlework tables etc..., richly decorated with paintings of lovely bunches of flowers, chinoiseries and inlaid with iridescent mother-of-pearl. The most beautiful copies in our possession today were made in England. The Victorian style is wrongly considered as heavy and strict. On the contrary, English interiors in those days, were dressed with so much sober and inimitable charm, definitely less theatrical and feminine than Napoleon III’s style, during the same period. Two similar and complementary styles respectively influenced by their own country’s characteristics.