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

Experiments with the Model of the Memorial of the Exhibition of 1851, Erected in the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens before the Design was Settled by H.R.H. the Prince Consort

Photograph
ca. 1861 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Department of Science and Art of the Committee of Council on Education (commissioned by)
Place of origin
London (photographed)

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
Photographs
Architecture
History of the V&A
Object type
Photograph
TitleExperiments with the Model of the Memorial of the Exhibition of 1851, Erected in the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens before the Design was Settled by H.R.H. the Prince Consort (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print
Photographic Paper
Albumen Process
Photography
Brief description
Photograph, 'Experiments with the Model of the Memorial of the Exhibition of 1851, Erected in the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens before the Design was Settled by H.R.H. the Prince Consort', western side of the Sheepshanks Gallery, Prince Albert, Henry Cole and Francis Fowke inspecting John Durham's model, print after the watercolour by Anthony Stannus, albumen print, ca. 1861
Physical description
A photograph of a print mounted with printed label description showing a group of individuals gathered at the edge of a body of water looking at a sculpture. A building with tall arched windows is in the background
Dimensions
  • Image height: 13.6cm
  • Image width: 20.0cm
  • Mount height: 26.5cm
  • Mount width: 33.2cm
Style
Documentary
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'England & Wales / IIaa / London: South Kensington / Victoria and Albert Museum / (site of present quadrangle / From a drawing' (ink, mount)
  • library stamp (blindstamp, upper centre mount)
  • 'A.b. LONDON' (department classification label, lower right mount)
  • 'EXPERIMENT WITH THE MODEL OF THE MEMORIAL OF THE EXHIBITION OF 1851, ERECTED IN THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S GARDEN BEFORE THE DESIGN WAS SETTLED BY H.R.H. THE PRINCE CONSORT. / These experiments ere conducted over a period of about two months, from 11th March to 17th May 1861, and in order to superintend the process of them H.R.H. The Prince Consort visited the South Kensington Museum where they were carried on upwards of eight times. This sketch was taken of one of the Prince's visits when General Grey, Mr. Cole, Mr. Redgrave, and Captain Fowke were present. The Prince is viewing the Model from a hole which was dug in order that the eye of the spectator should be brought to the right level. The background presents the Sheepshanks Gallery now about to be altered, and the Iron Museum now removed. Instead of the statue of the Queen surmounting the monument as in the sketch, it was the will of Heaven that the Prince's own statue should be there.
Subjects depicted
Museums
Monuments
Henry Cole
Prince Albert
Place depicted
South Kensington Museum
Association
Anthony Carey Stannus
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.
Other number
9344 (MA/32/27) - Negative number (V&A Archive Guard Book reference)
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
71746

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Record createdJuly 1, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1092910/experiments-with-the-model-of-photograph-department-of-science/
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