Part of the French Court, No. 2
Watercolour
1851 (made)
1851 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The Great Exhibition of 1851 took place at Hyde Park in a revolutionary glass and iron building known as the 'Crystal Palace'. It included over 13,000 exhibits and was the first international exhibition of manufactured products.
The exhibition attracted more than six million visitors, equivalent to a third of the population of Great Britain. This watercolour is from a group of images reproduced as colour lithographs in Recollections of the Great Exhibition, a lavish contemporary souvenir guide. The profits from the Great Exhibition were used to fund several science and art initiatives in South Kensington. They included what is now the Victoria and Albert Museum, whose earliest surviving building was erected in 1857.
This watercolour shows a view of the French Court. The sideboard of carved walnut on the left in this watercolour is the work of the Paris manufacturer Fourdinois. It was discussed in The Illustrated Exhibitor, 13 September 1851: ‘the design of the artist is to make the ornamentation entirely subservient to its intended purposes’.
The exhibition attracted more than six million visitors, equivalent to a third of the population of Great Britain. This watercolour is from a group of images reproduced as colour lithographs in Recollections of the Great Exhibition, a lavish contemporary souvenir guide. The profits from the Great Exhibition were used to fund several science and art initiatives in South Kensington. They included what is now the Victoria and Albert Museum, whose earliest surviving building was erected in 1857.
This watercolour shows a view of the French Court. The sideboard of carved walnut on the left in this watercolour is the work of the Paris manufacturer Fourdinois. It was discussed in The Illustrated Exhibitor, 13 September 1851: ‘the design of the artist is to make the ornamentation entirely subservient to its intended purposes’.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Part of the French Court, No. 2 (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour and gouache over pencil on paper |
| Brief description | Watercolour, Interior view of the Great Exhibition - 'Part of the French Court, No. 2', by John Absolon, 1851 |
| Physical description | Watercolour of an interior view of the Great Exhibtion. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Credit line | Purchased with Art Fund support and assistance from the Friends of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 |
| Subject depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Summary | The Great Exhibition of 1851 took place at Hyde Park in a revolutionary glass and iron building known as the 'Crystal Palace'. It included over 13,000 exhibits and was the first international exhibition of manufactured products. The exhibition attracted more than six million visitors, equivalent to a third of the population of Great Britain. This watercolour is from a group of images reproduced as colour lithographs in Recollections of the Great Exhibition, a lavish contemporary souvenir guide. The profits from the Great Exhibition were used to fund several science and art initiatives in South Kensington. They included what is now the Victoria and Albert Museum, whose earliest surviving building was erected in 1857. This watercolour shows a view of the French Court. The sideboard of carved walnut on the left in this watercolour is the work of the Paris manufacturer Fourdinois. It was discussed in The Illustrated Exhibitor, 13 September 1851: ‘the design of the artist is to make the ornamentation entirely subservient to its intended purposes’. |
| Associated object | 19538:24 (Reproduction) |
| Bibliographic reference | Julius Bryant, ed. Art and Design for All. The Victoria and Albert Museum London: V&A Publishing, 2011. ISBN: 9781851776665. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.7-2007 |
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| Record created | April 14, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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