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Church Furniture

Watercolour
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 work shows a display of church furnishings and fabrics by the Bolton draper Gilbert French. A small advertisement for the firm can be seen in the lower left corner. Exhibits from the display of heavy machinery are visible in the right background.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleChurch Furniture (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour and gouache over pencil on paper
Brief description
Watercolour, Interior view of the Great Exhibition - 'Church Furniture', by Edwin Thomas Dolby, 1851
Physical description
Watercolour of an interior view of the Great Exhibition - 'Church Furniture',
Dimensions
  • Height: 27.3cm
  • Width: 37.3cm
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 work shows a display of church furnishings and fabrics by the Bolton draper Gilbert French. A small advertisement for the firm can be seen in the lower left corner. Exhibits from the display of heavy machinery are visible in the right background.
Associated object
19538:8 (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.13-2007

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Record createdMay 16, 2007
Record URL
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