"Mario Praz, in an idiosyncratic essay on the philosophy of interior decoration, [identified a concept he] called Stimmung--the sense of intimacy that is created by a room and its furnishings. Stimmung is a characteristic of interiors that has less to do with functionality than with the way the room conveys the character of its owner--the way that it mirrors his soul, as Praz poetically put it." (43)