By melinda010100 on Skatehive
The Art Institute of Chicago has a specialized gallery to display the 68 popular dioramas of the Thorne Miniature Rooms. As a child I had a big wooden dollhouse that my father made for me, and I would have been especially fascinated and quite envious of these miniature rooms back then. These rooms were created by Narcissa Niblack Thorne, a Chicago socialite who spent years traveling and collecting tiny furniture. During the Great Depression, she employed architects and master craftsmen (who were otherwise out of work) to build these historically accurate settings. Most rooms were built between 1932 and 1940 and debuted at World Fairs. The dioramas are incredibly detailed and built to a 1:12 scale (one inch equals one foot). The lighting is designed to mimic natural sunlight, and the "windows" look out onto painted backdrops to create a sense of depth, even though the box is only a couple of feet deep. This room is titled "A17: Pennsylvania Kitchen, 1752." It represents a wealthy Penn