TREASURES OF WINTERTHUR CAPTURES THE EXTRAORDIARY BEAUTY OF THE du PONT ESTATE IN NEW WALL PAPER COLLECTION

The Winterthur Museum, once home to three generations of the du Pont family, provided the design and color inspirations for Imperial Home Decor Group’s latest wall paper collection - “Treasures of Winterthur” - under the Albert Van Luit brand.

Henry Francis du Pont, the estates last owner, was an exceptional man who devoted his life to collecting antiques and interior design, showcasing his world-renowned collection and beautifully landscaped gardens. He orchestrated the assembly and installation of the antique collections in up to 200 rooms with period woodwork from the thirteen colonies. This is the largest and richest collection of American decorative arts in the world, spanning two centuries of creative productivity from about 1640 to 1860.

The second great collection at Winterthur is the gardens. Henry Francis du Pont inherited his family’s love of nature and discovered the hidden natural treasures of Winterthur’s woodlands. He was extensive in his study of plants to ensure color, growth, and stability for the Delaware environment. In the gardens as in the house, natural beauty was a close parallel to be reflected year round. Much like the museum, the landscaped gardens portray one of the country’s great designers. Opened to the public in 1951, Winterthur enchants and delights visitors and has provided a wealth of exquisite designs for the Winterthur collections by Van Luit.

"Treasures of breathtaking pattern spill from the pages in this book and we are delighted to once again bring the beauty and history of Winterthur to the consumer,” said Katherine Krage, design director of Van Luit for Imperial Home Decor Group. Van Luit is licensed with the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum and has reproductions that capture the spirit of the original documents.

“Treasures of Winterthur” by Van Luit commemorates the golden anniversary of the great country estate in Delaware. Included are designs taken from silk damasks, palampores, French floral trails, crewelwork, embroidered fabrics and the inspiration from the gardens surrounding the estate. The designs are adaptations that capture and reflect the beauty and excellence of this historic home.

A few highlights in this book are Port Royal, Santana, Larisa, Carroll Stairhall, Palampore and Cathay Chinois Mural. Port Royal is adapted from a hand painted Chinese mural dating between 1750 – 1775. It is shown in the Port Royal Entrance of the mansion. Port Royal portrays exotic motifs of peonies, flowering branches, and bamboo stalks. Santana was inspired by the beautiful botanical gardens, Larisa, derived from Pompeian frescos, the Etruscan pattern displays tendril vines with linear arabesques and songbirds. Larisa was inspired from the fanciful French block cartouche in the Federal Parlor of the museum.

Carroll Stairhall is a hand painted wall, virtually moved from the Ezra Carroll house and placed into a 2-story stairhall of the mansion. Its exotic and whimsical scenes recall the design of French wall paper. Palampore is a French floral trail adapted from a fabric design called the tree of life, and the ever popular Cathay Chinois mural is an eight panel scenic adapted from a late eighteenth-century wallcovering of Chinese origin exhibited in the museum’s Philadelphia bedroom.

“Treasures of Winterthur” by Albert Van Luit is available at independent dealers, and through interior designers. For more information, consumers can call 800-539-5399 or visit www.ihdg.com.

Imperial Home Decor Group, Inc. (IHDG), one of the world's largest designers, manufacturers and distributors of residential wallcovering products. IHDG also markets commercial wallcoverings and is a premier supplier of poly vinyl films used in the production of pool liners, water containment and bill boards through the Vernon Plastics Inc., a subsidiary of IHDG.
Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, IHDG supplies home centers, national chains, independent dealers, mass merchants, design showrooms and specialty shops. Product lines include the Imperial, Katzenbach & Warren, Albert Van Luit, Sterling Prints, Imperial Fine Interiors, Sunworthy, Anaglypta and Lincrusta brand names. The Company was created in 1998 through the merger of Imperial Wallcoverings and Borden Decorative Products.

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Author Notes:

Daryl Marples contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.beautiful-home-101.com. An online guide to home decorating, furniture and improvement decor.