What furnishings in the Newport Mansions just scream “Gilded Age”? We asked expert Ulysses Dietz, former curator of the Newark Museum and a member of our Symposium Committee. He chose three: the Frullini sideboard in Chateau-sur-Mer (April 27), the bronze dining chairs from Marble House (May 5) and today’s topic, the chintz-upholstered bergères from Alice Vanderbilt’s bedroom at The Breakers. Here’s his explanation: “This was Ogden Codman’s contribution to the final stage of the Gilded Age – a fairly careful reproduction of a Louis XVI closed armchair, covered in bright and cheerful chintz. This look would dominate the rest of the Gilded Age, right to the 1920s. The white-painted French furniture Codman introduces to the USA at The Breakers will become the touchstone of upper-class good taste, so that by the 1920s everybody believes this was always the thing. Lots of Americans would happily have one of those in their house, because it feels right. But in 1894 it was radical.” Alice Van...