Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case X, Shelf 601

South Kensington Museum with shed, ladder and sapper

Photograph
1856 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Photographs and photographers were present from the very beginning of the V&A's history and the Museum has an extensive collection of images from the 1850s through to the present which documents the construction and development of the V&A and the South Kensington site.

Originally collected by the National Art Library as part of a programme to record works of art, architecture and design in the interest of public education, these topographic and architectural views were valued as records and as source material for students of architecture and design. As well as being crucial records of the history of the V&A, and an important element within the National Art Library's visual encyclopaedia, these photographs are also significant artefacts in the history of the art of photography.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleSouth Kensington Museum with shed, ladder and sapper (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print
Brief description
Mounted albumen print, Charles Thurston Thompson, South Kensington Museum with shed, ladder and sapper, 1856
Physical description
A mounted albumen print of an exterior view of a shed surrounded by trees and construction debris. A ladder leans against the facade. A sapper (Royal Engineer) is visible at the entrance
Dimensions
  • Image height: 23.5cm
  • Image width: 29.4cm
  • Mount height: 26.8cm
  • Mount width: 33.2cm
  • Mount height: 38.2cm
  • Mount width: 53.6cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'A.b. London' (classification system label)
  • 'IIaa' (ink, upper centre mount)
  • library stamp (blindstamp, only small portion visible, upper centre mount)
  • 'South Kensington' (ink, lower left mount)
Gallery label
Gallery 100 ‘A History of Photography’, 2014-2015, label text: Charles Thurston Thompson (1816–68) South Kensington Museum Construction Site About 1856 Construction of the South Kensington Museum began in early 1856. Here Thurston Thompson shows preparations on the site for the new building. Albumen print Museum no. 33:954 (06 03 2014)
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Summary
Photographs and photographers were present from the very beginning of the V&A's history and the Museum has an extensive collection of images from the 1850s through to the present which documents the construction and development of the V&A and the South Kensington site.

Originally collected by the National Art Library as part of a programme to record works of art, architecture and design in the interest of public education, these topographic and architectural views were valued as records and as source material for students of architecture and design. As well as being crucial records of the history of the V&A, and an important element within the National Art Library's visual encyclopaedia, these photographs are also significant artefacts in the history of the art of photography.
Collection
Accession number
33954

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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