ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that the later eighteenth century was characterised by the desire to foreground the fashionable and the new. It identifies the key elements of different styles which were adapted commercially in wallpaper examining emerging styles such as Neo-classicism, particularly as manifested in Adam interiors, as well as the taste for French designs and the Picturesque. A fusion between classical sources and modern forms of decoration was also seen in the interiors of architects such as Adam. Related to the arabesque is Adam's much debated 'invention' of the Etruscan style. Tatham's 'ornaments' had a clear provenance, in Sir William Hamilton's volumes of prints in the Etruscan style. Print rooms schemes consisted of prints pasted on the wall with decorative borders and ornaments. Stiles, or styles, were wide borders which were used to create a panelled effect often described as a 'compartment' or hanging 'in the French manner'. Another innovation was the taste for wallpapers imitating stone.
