VMFA Galleries 2011 – The James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin American Art Galleries
Photo: Travis Fullerton ©Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The Belter sofas are a pair of sofas designed by the successful cabinet manufacturer John Henry Belter in the mid-19th century. As they passed through many hands, the sofas were gilded and became damaged over the years. Each sofa has been restored and conserved to a different period: one to the state it was in during the 19th century, before gilding and the other to the state during the early 20th century, after gilding. Click the links below to learn more!
Belter Sofa Video Transcript:
Narrator: And they were heralded as extremely rare examples of gilded furniture to come out of the Belter Workshop. Big, brawny, and bold, the near identical sofas each measure over seven and a half feet wide. And viewed together, they presented a dazzling sight; in fact, they were so visually pushy that VMFA’s former Curator of American Art, David Park Curry, dubbed them the Tarleton Twins (reference to the book and film, Gone with the Wind).
