Details of decoration for the Sheepshanks Gallery thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level H , Case PD, Shelf 84

Details of decoration for the Sheepshanks Gallery

Design
ca. 1856 - ca. 1857 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In the early years of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the majority of buildings on its present South Kensington site were temporary or inherited structures: these included the so-called Brompton Boilers and Brompton Park House respectively (see E.1321-1927). The first exception was the Sheepshanks Gallery (now the V&A Bookshop and Rooms 91-93 above; elevations since rebuilt), a two-storey, seven-bay building erected in 1856-8 to house a collection of paintings, mostly contemporary works, which had been gifted by John Sheepshanks. The brick-clad building was designed in a north Italian Renaissance style, with a decorative external appearance incorporating ornamental brickwork, round-headed windows and double-height colonettes - which functioned as rainwater drainage pipes - reaching from the spring of the first-floor arches down to the ground floor. This drawing shows two aspects of a design for capital-like ornamentation, intended for a junction between two pipe parts at the base of the façade. Redgrave, who had organised the British art entry to the Universal Exhibition in Paris of 1855 and held a number of positions in the Art Training School or Art School (the institution for which the collection later housed by the Victoria and Albert Museum was first established), would be an influential force in shaping the young Museum.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleDetails of decoration for the Sheepshanks Gallery (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Pencil drawing on paper
Brief description
Design for Victoria and Albert Museum by Richard Redgrave, exterior details for Sheepshanks Gallery, ca. 1856-7
Physical description
Pencil drawing (left) and a pen and ink drawing (right) on paper, comprising two aspects of a design for a capital-like feature for the pipes or colonettes on the façade of the Sheepshanks Building. Both depict a narrow shaft surmounted by a broader shaft. At the top of the narrow shaft is a capital-like feature, embellished with foliate mouldings: a central stem with five leaves sits above clover leaves and a hanging thistle head, and is framed to either side by leaves with volute-like scrolls. The pencil drawing is shaded to give relief and shows the feature face-on; the pen and ink drawing is a line drawing and shows the feature in profile, with the ornament and broader shaft slightly curtailed to sit flush against the wall. Some measurements.
Dimensions
  • Height: 6.8cm
  • Width: 19.4cm
Credit line
Given by Mrs Richard Redgrave
Subject depicted
Place depicted
Summary
In the early years of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the majority of buildings on its present South Kensington site were temporary or inherited structures: these included the so-called Brompton Boilers and Brompton Park House respectively (see E.1321-1927). The first exception was the Sheepshanks Gallery (now the V&A Bookshop and Rooms 91-93 above; elevations since rebuilt), a two-storey, seven-bay building erected in 1856-8 to house a collection of paintings, mostly contemporary works, which had been gifted by John Sheepshanks. The brick-clad building was designed in a north Italian Renaissance style, with a decorative external appearance incorporating ornamental brickwork, round-headed windows and double-height colonettes - which functioned as rainwater drainage pipes - reaching from the spring of the first-floor arches down to the ground floor. This drawing shows two aspects of a design for capital-like ornamentation, intended for a junction between two pipe parts at the base of the façade. Redgrave, who had organised the British art entry to the Universal Exhibition in Paris of 1855 and held a number of positions in the Art Training School or Art School (the institution for which the collection later housed by the Victoria and Albert Museum was first established), would be an influential force in shaping the young Museum.
Bibliographic references
  • Physick, John. The Victoria and Albert Museum: The History of Its Building. London: The Victoria & Albert Museum, 1982.
  • F. H. W. Sheppard, ed. Survey of London Volume XXXVIII: The Museums Area of South Kensington and Westminster. London: The Athlone Press, 1975.
Collection
Accession number
216B-1889

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Record createdJune 8, 2009
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