A cabinet was a private room in the houses and palaces of early modern Europe serving as a study or retreat, usually for a man. The cabinet would be furnished with books and works of art, and sited adjacent to his bedchamber, the equivalent of the Italian Renaissance studiolo. In the Late Medieval period, such newly perceived requirements for privacy had been served by the solar of the English gentry house, and a similar, less secular purpose had been served by a private oratory.
Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg as Saint Jerome (with friends) in his study by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1526.
Saint Jerome in His Study, 1514, by Albrecht Dürer
The richly decorated Studiolo of Francesco I
A corner of a cabinet of curiosities, painted by Frans II Francken in 1636 reveals the range of connoisseurship of a Baroque-era virtuoso.
In a building or ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure. The entrance connects it to either a passageway, another room, or the outdoors. The space is typically large enough for several people to move about. The size, fixtures, furnishings, and sometimes placement of the room within the building or ship support the activity to be conducted in it.
Neolithic room at Skara Brae, Orkney, c. 3,000 BC
Castle Howard, "Lady Georgianas' Dressing Room"
Image: Ateneul Român Sala
Image: Salle des catalogues de la Bibliotheque Mazarine Paris