John Harris is universally regarded as one of the greatest historians of architecture, gardens and architectural drawings of our times. Author of more than twenty-five books and catalogues, and two hundred articles. Harris is a Fellow and Curator Emeritus of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

This lecture discusses the reception of French panelled or boiserie rooms in America, identifying the Montmorency Salon installed in 1848 in the Deacon House, Boston, as the first import, and the Mergret de Serilly salon in The Breakers, Newport, 1894, as the second. The acquisition of the Hoentschel Collection of boiseries by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1907 will be seen as a watershed. Museums will be judged on the merit of their acquisitions, similarly those boiseries put into private houses and apartments.

Please RSVP by email at [email protected] or calling 212–501–3051 and join us in the Lecture Hall at 38 West 86th Street, between Columbus Ave and Central Park West, at 5:45pm for a reception before the lecture.