A whirlwind
tour by the Original London Walks gave me a brief introduction
to an awe-inspiring museum. Our guide explained in detail only
7 pieces of the collection, but it left me wanting for more
and I plan to visit again.
The Museum
was originally the idea of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband.
He had a passion for fine arts and was excited about the industrial
advances England was making in the area of textiles in particular.
The prince wished to show off to the world and at the same time
educate the people of England with the knowledge of what they
could have gracing their homes. Albert expected that the designers
would then continue to strive for excellence because it would
demanded of them by the public.
He began
an exhibition hall, which became known as Crystal Palace. The
hall burnt down and only the foundations remain today. People
came from everywhere to view the art. During this time, Prince
Albert became friendly with Henry Cole. After the princes' death,
Queen Victoria commissioned the museum, wishing to name it Albert
because of his insight and his influence in pioneering the first
ever exhibition. However she was convinced by the board of governors
to lend her name to the title also to give the museum more importance.
She laid the foundation stone in her last official public appearance
and died two years later.
The art
The Victoria and Albert museum have a large dress collection
of original garments from each influential period in history.
We took time to look at the clothes of Victoria's reign. Albert
was captivated with the greatness of the Elizabethan reign and
wished Victoria's reign to mirror this. The fashions therefore
took a backward step for women, from the Jane Austin attire
back to corsets and large wire hoops with layers of petticoats.
Women also started to wear Bloomers, necessary because of the
hoops unpredictability. The early garments had lost colour because
of unstable vegetables dies. The end of the era had witnessed
the more stable mineral dyes and the invention of the sewing
machine. It was more fashionable to have machine embroidered
garments than those that stitched on hand made laces and motifs.
Raphaels
cartoons
Huge paintings on canvas line the beautiful gallery that houses
a most remarkable collection. The work was commissioned by a
Pope to complete the lower walls if the Sistine Chapel. Cartoons
meant designs and Raphaels work was to be made into tapestries.
Therefore it had to be painted in mirror image. Must cartoon
painters do not fill in details such as colour because it is
nearly impossible for the weavers to replicate these. However
Raphaels cartoons not only had full colour, but he had paid
attention to the finest of detail. It was difficult to look
out as your eye was continually drawn to Christ at the right,
not allowing for the natural eye movement of left to right.
Yet when I glanced across the hall to an actual tapestry the
problem was solved. It appears that Raphael had intended that
these not be merely cartoons but great paintings as well because
of the subtleties he included. One has words, which can be read.
Of course if it were, as it should be, mirror image this would
not be possible. Unfortunately the original tapestries are not
on public display at the Sistine Chapel as they are very old
and fragile. Wrenn designed the golden frames that surround
each canvas.
Art from
India
A jade cup was the first item we looked at in this section.
It was worked for an Indian Emperor. He himself was a very fine
jeweller and expected a high quality of workmanship. The cups
design draws from several inspirations and cultures.
Lovely tea
rooms
Cole wished people to visit the museum and stay all day, therefore
three rooms were included in the initial design of the building
to accommodate three meals of the day, breakfast, lunch and
afternoon tea. A different decorator designed each room and
students of the Fine Arts academy carried out the work. One
room houses the first wallpaper like coverings, from a designer
who was to become a very famous wall paper designer. Another
is covered in ceramic tilings. These are hand painted by the
first extra mural classes held. We only walked through easily
the most impressive room.
The ship
An amazing curiosity was the small ship. It was gold plated
and made of silver. What made it interesting was its purpose.
It was an elaborate salt holder. It had a great power assigned
to it in that it determined your importance to your host. You
could count yourself important if you had the privilege of sitting
above the salt towards the host. Those sitting below were said
to be under the salt, a saying that apparently still carries
some weight today.
Other ships built in this fashion were much larger and able
to be wheeled around the dining table. They carried the napkins,
folks and knives for the meal.
The great
Ware bed
This bed is huge; there's no other way to put it. It was built
around 1590 out of oak, so not owned by the wealthiest of people.
Business, at this time was conducted in the bedroom so to show
off the bed. Your success was measured by the size of it, so
even then size mattered. Three mattresses would have been placed
across a rope grid and a small ladder required to get into it.
This bed has graffiti, which is thought to be very old due to
the amount of time the bed has been protected, by the museum.
It had been found in an inn in Ware so its exact origins are
unknown. It was perhaps the bed for the five star suites.
The first lifelike sculpture
Today we would take this for granted and I would have walked
past the sculpture not giving it a second glance. But it was
in fact the first sculpture to take a human image and taken
from a life mask. All other pieces of the time were filled with
symbolism, particularly of a godly nature and not at all grounded
in the here and now. The sculptor hasn't taken the time to carefully
finish the back detail as an artist might today as it would
not be seen.
And the
first piece of copiable art
Donatello's Ascension was made for the model of the sculpture.
He was unable to pay for medical services and so asked to pay
but art. The sculpture is made from bronze, which was poured,
into plaster moulds. Then it was pushed out. It is special because
the back is hollowed out and can be used as a cast to copy from.
This was the first piece of art made to be copied. The museum
display a glass copy, to prove it can be done.
The main
hall
Cole would have been disappointed in the grandeur of the main
entrance hall as he wished everyone to enjoy the exhibitions
and many people of the time would have been so intimidated by
the foyer that they would have walked straight out again. However
Cole was not alive to witness the extension and the entrance
which resulted because of this.
I hope a
passion for this place has been conveyed through this diary.
I can't wait to get back and look at all the exhibits that I
didn't see. I have not had an appreciation for the influence
art in history has had on our lives and am pleased to have gained
this from a very short visit.
