Note 379 — CHAPTER 16 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ART NOUVEAU: VICTOR HORTA

For a late tribute to Van de Velde in English, see Shand, P. M., Architectural Review, CXII (1952), 143-55. It is a major error of emphasis—and in detail an accumulation of errors of fact—that H. Lenning offers in his book The Art Nouveau (The Hague, 1951) by accepting the legend that Van de Velde was the initiator of the Art Nouveau. There is plenty of evidence that Van de Velde was aware of English innovations in decoration from the early nineties. On the other hand, despite the wallpaper 460in the Tassel dining-room, it should be noted that Horta’s widow and his disciple Delhaye minimize, to the point of denying all but absolutely, the dependence of Horta on English sources at the time he designed the Tassel house.