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Portico de la Gloria; Tympanum. Central Doorway

Photograph
1868 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In September 1865, John Charles Robinson, curator at the South Kensington Museum (which was to become the V&A), travelled to Santiago de Compostela as part of an expedition to acquire Spanish artworks for the Museum's collection. Impressed by the Portico de la Gloria at Santiago, he determined that the Portico should be reproduced and recorded in order to be displayed at the South Kensington Museum. To this end, in 1866, Robinson sent Museum photographer Charles Thurston Thompson (1816-1868) to photograph the cathedral and Domenico Bucciani, London's leading producer of plaster casts, to produce the casts which later took pride of place in the new cast court when it completed in 1873.

Thompson returned with 86 views of the cathedral. From these, under the aegis of Department of Science and Art, The Arundel Society issued a volume of 20 photographs of Santiago attributed to Thompson. Published in the later half of 1868, Thompson never got to see the spendid volume as he died in January of that same year. Curiously, in the table of contents, there is a note concerning three of the views: 'From their position in the portico, the Archivolt and Tympanum of the Central Doorway could not be satisfactorily photographed; Nos. 12, 13, and 14 were therefore taken from the Casts in the South Kensington Museum'. It has now been determined that these three views, of which this photograph is one, were taken by Thompson's successor, Isabel Agnes Cowper (1826? - 1911).

Cowper was the sister of Thompson, and of the Superintendent of the Museum, Richard A. Thompson. Little is known about Cowper, but in her letter of resignation in 1891, she refers to herself as the Museum's 'Official Photographer', having taken up the position after the death of her brother. This image with the fragments of the sign written in English and of the museum window, provide a context that is lacking in Thompson's views. Such a context points to the role of the Museum in the early 19th-century.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Portico de la Gloria; Tympanum. Central Doorway (generic title)
  • Examples of Art Workmanship and Countries (series title)
  • The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella in Spain (series title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print
Brief description
Photograph by Isabel Agnes Cowper, 'Portico de la Gloria; Tympanum. Central Doorway', albumen print, 1868, copy of plate 14 in album 'The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella in Spain, showing especially the Sculpture of the Portico de la Gloria by Mestre Mateo: A Series of Twenty Photographs recently taken by the Late Mr. Thurston Thompson', Science and Art Department, Arundel Society, 1868
Physical description
A mounted albumen photograph in an album of twenty tipped-in photographs showing the detail of an intriquately carved semi-circular decorative surface featuring biblical figures. The framework upon which the carving rests is visible.
Dimensions
  • Album height: 485mm
  • Album width: 405mm
Marks and inscriptions
  • '14. PORTICO DE LA GLORIA: TYMPANUM. CENTRAL DOORWAY' (printed label , mount)
  • 'SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTEMENT/ NATIONAL ART LIBRARY' (red ink stamp on verso of mount)
Object history
These images were previously attributed to Charles Thurston Thompson. As per album table of contents note: 'From their position in the portico, the Archivolt and Tympanum of the Central Doorway could not be satisfactorily photographed; Nos. 12,13, and 14 were therefore taken from the Casts in the South Kensington Museum', it is clear that these images were taken at a later date. An entry in the Photography Register from May 22, 1868 provides a clue to their origin: '3 mounted photos. Santiago, Cathedral. Porta della Gloria, photographed from the cast in the S.K.M. [South Kensington Museum] by Mrs. I. A. Cowper'. It is now clear these photographs were taken after Thompson's death by his successor as Official Photographer at the South Kensington Museum, Isabel Agnes Cowper.
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Associations
Summary
In September 1865, John Charles Robinson, curator at the South Kensington Museum (which was to become the V&A), travelled to Santiago de Compostela as part of an expedition to acquire Spanish artworks for the Museum's collection. Impressed by the Portico de la Gloria at Santiago, he determined that the Portico should be reproduced and recorded in order to be displayed at the South Kensington Museum. To this end, in 1866, Robinson sent Museum photographer Charles Thurston Thompson (1816-1868) to photograph the cathedral and Domenico Bucciani, London's leading producer of plaster casts, to produce the casts which later took pride of place in the new cast court when it completed in 1873.

Thompson returned with 86 views of the cathedral. From these, under the aegis of Department of Science and Art, The Arundel Society issued a volume of 20 photographs of Santiago attributed to Thompson. Published in the later half of 1868, Thompson never got to see the spendid volume as he died in January of that same year. Curiously, in the table of contents, there is a note concerning three of the views: 'From their position in the portico, the Archivolt and Tympanum of the Central Doorway could not be satisfactorily photographed; Nos. 12, 13, and 14 were therefore taken from the Casts in the South Kensington Museum'. It has now been determined that these three views, of which this photograph is one, were taken by Thompson's successor, Isabel Agnes Cowper (1826? - 1911).

Cowper was the sister of Thompson, and of the Superintendent of the Museum, Richard A. Thompson. Little is known about Cowper, but in her letter of resignation in 1891, she refers to herself as the Museum's 'Official Photographer', having taken up the position after the death of her brother. This image with the fragments of the sign written in English and of the museum window, provide a context that is lacking in Thompson's views. Such a context points to the role of the Museum in the early 19th-century.
Associated object
3453-1932 (Version)
Bibliographic references
  • Charles Thurston Thompson e o proxecto fotografico iberico La Coluna: Centro Galego de Artes da Imaxe-Xunta de Galicia, 1996 p. 38
  • Accidental pilgrims: 19th-century British travellers and photographers in Santiago de Compostela United Kingdom: The British Art Journal, 03/2000 - 05/2000 Vol. 1, No.2 (Spring 2000), pp.3-12
  • Thompson, Charles Thurston. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella in Spain: Showing especially the sculpture of the Portico de la Gloria by Mestre Matteo. A series of twenty photographs recently taken by the late Mr. Thurston Thompson. Under the Sanction of the Science and Art Department, for the Use of Schools of Art and Amateurs. London: Arundel Society for Promoting the Knowledge of Art and Bell and Daldy, 1868.
Collection
Accession number
62479

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
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