Artist's studio with lay figure, c1880s. thumbnail 1
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Artist's studio with lay figure, c1880s.

Photograph
1880s (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Great Britain (photographed)

A staged photograph depicting an artist in his studio. The artist is actually a life-sized lay-figure, dressed in historical costume, which has been seated at a table and is holding brushes and a palette. On and around the desk is a display of small portrait prints an photographs whilst on the wall behind there is a display of religious images and decorative plates.


Object details

Categories
Photographs
Interiors
Artist's Studios
Object type
Photograph
TitleArtist's studio with lay figure, c1880s. (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print from collodion negative
Paper
Albumen Process
Collodion
Brief description
Photograph, depicting artist's studio with lay figure, albumen print, Great Britain, ca. 1890s
Physical description
A staged photograph depicting an artist in his studio. The artist is actually a life-sized lay-figure, dressed in historical costume, which has been seated at a table and is holding brushes and a palette. On and around the desk is a display of small portrait prints an photographs whilst on the wall behind there is a display of religious images and decorative plates.
Dimensions
  • Height: 26cm
  • Width: 21cm
Dimensions taken from Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1993
Style
Victorian
Gallery label
Making It Up: Photographic Fictions (2018) Marta Weiss The protagonist in this tableau is a lay figure, a mannequin used by artists in place of a live model. This one has been posed as an artist, holding a palette and brushes, and surrounded by a dense display of photographs, paintings and objets d’art. The photograph may have been made in the studio of the Italian landscape painter Giovanni Costa (1826–1903).
Subjects depicted
Studios (Work Spaces)
Lay-Figure
Palette
Paint Brushes
Portraits
Plates
Interior
Desk
Bibliographic references
  • Waterfield, Giles (ed.). The Artist's Studio. London: Hogarth Arts ;distribution by Paul Holberton Publishing, 2009. 103pp, illus. ISBN: 9780955406331.
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1993
  • Maas, Jeremy. The Victorian art world in photographs. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1984. 224pp., illus. ISBN 0091538408.
  • Wainwright, Clive. The romantic interior: the British collector at home, 1750-1850. London: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 1989. 314pp, illus. ISBN: 0300042256.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.953-1993

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Record createdNovember 14, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O172480/artists-studio-with-lay-figure-photograph-unknown/
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