The Victorian Era, which stretched from 1837 to 1901, was a period of unprecedented transformation. Europe and America in the 1830s weretraditional agrarian societies; travel was by horse or by sail, lighting by oil lamp and candle. By 1901, the span of a single lifetime, there existed electric light, automobiles, skyscrapers and telephones.In the decorative arts, this vibrant era did not produce merely one style—it produced a myriad. Historical revivals, an anti-industrial return to nature...