Capital carved with scrolling foliage and two dragons from St Alban's Cathedral, Hertfordshire. 19th century plast cast after 12th century romanesque original.

Capital carved with scrolling foliage and two dragons

This capital, carved with foliage and two dragons, is from the slype, or covered passage between the chapterhouse and transept, of St Alban's Cathedral, Hertfordshire. The chapterhouse was added to the Cathedral during the tenancy of Abbot Robert de Gorham (1151-1166). In the 1890s, Lord Grimthorpe, the architect responsible for rebuilding the west front, roof, and transept windows of St Alban's Cathedral, replaced the capitals from the slype doorway in the south doorway of the south transept.

In the last decade of the 19th century and in the first decade of the 20th century, enthusiasm towards acquiring new plaster casts and electrotypes for the V&A waned. A Report of the Committee of Re-Arrangement, produced by the Board of Education in July 1908, had a section entitled 'The Question of Casts'. In this report, proposals to expand the cast collection to include examples of the development of British architecture were rejected. However, a large donation of casts from sculpture and architecture in British churches and cathedrals was received from the Royal Architectural Museum of the Architectural Association in 1916. This museum had been founded in 1851 by a group of architectural professionals lead by George Gilbert Scott, and by the 1870s included over 4500 casts from English church portals, tombs, and windows. Many of these casts were assembled by John Ruskin (1819-1900) and William Burges (1827-1881), respectively. In the early 20th century, the pedagogical focus of the teachers at the Association changed from Gothic to classicising, and the Royal Architectural collections were deemed to be no longer of use for students. The premises of the Royal Architectural Association Museum were sold in 1917, and the casts were donated to the V&A.

19th century plaster cast after 12th century romanesque original

This capital, carved with foliage and two dragons, is from the slype, or covered passage between the chapterhouse and transcept, of St Alban's Cathedral, Hertfordshire.

REPRO.A.1916-70