The Thorne Miniature Rooms. In the late 1930s Narcissa Niblack Thorne (1882-1966) gathered a group of skilled craftspeople in her Chicago studio to create this series of 68 precisely rendered miniature rooms. Executed on a scale of one inch to one foot, they evoke historic interiors in the United States, England, France, China, and Japan, from about 1600 to the 19305. Although Thorne understood the appeal of the rooms for children, she did not conceive them as toys but rather as representations of the history of interior design. Her vision drew on her extensive library of books on antiques and architecture, and she often borrowed elements from the historic houses she visited in her travels. But Thorne did not hold herself strictly to period sources of inspiration, and she freely tweaked and improvised to create idealized spaces. Mood was as important to her as accuracy. She paid particular attention to the effects of lighting and decided not to populate the rooms with figures in an effort to create immersive experiences that allow viewers to imagine the human activity that might enliven her richly detailed models.

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