Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case JJ, Shelf 15

Design

1851-53 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

John Gregory Crace worked extensively for the 6th Duke of Devonshire at Devonshire House, London, and Chatsworth, designing a wide range of decorative schemes and furniture. He is also well known for his collaboration with A.W.N. Pugin, with whom he worked on the decoration of the new Palace of Westminster, and the medieval court at the Crystal Palace.

The Crace family were the most important firm of interior decorators working in the 19th century. They worked for every British monarch from George III to Queen Victoria and on a range of buildings that includes royal palaces, Leeds Town Hall and the Great Exhibition building of 1862.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pencil, watercolour, bodycolour
Brief description
Frederick Smallfield. Painted arabesque wall-decoration by J.C. Crace with composition decorations by Messrs. Jackson & Sons. Original artwork for plate 141 to The Industrial Arts of the Nineteenth Century at the Great Exhibition MDCCCLI by Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt. Pencil, watercolour and gold. London, 1851-53
Physical description
Drawing of a painted arabesque wall-decoration with composition ornaments.
Dimensions
  • Height: 13.25in
  • Width: 8.375in
Marks and inscriptions
(Inscribed with note, caption etc by M.D. Wyatt.)
Object history
Given by the Hon. Sir Steven Runciman
Subject depicted
Summary
John Gregory Crace worked extensively for the 6th Duke of Devonshire at Devonshire House, London, and Chatsworth, designing a wide range of decorative schemes and furniture. He is also well known for his collaboration with A.W.N. Pugin, with whom he worked on the decoration of the new Palace of Westminster, and the medieval court at the Crystal Palace.

The Crace family were the most important firm of interior decorators working in the 19th century. They worked for every British monarch from George III to Queen Victoria and on a range of buildings that includes royal palaces, Leeds Town Hall and the Great Exhibition building of 1862.
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1950, London: HMSO, 1962.
  • Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt, The Industrial Arts of the Nineteenth Century at the Great Exhibition MDCCCLI, Day & Son, London, 1851-1853.
  • Megan Aldrich, The Craces: royal decorators 1768-1899, London, Murray, 1990.
Collection
Accession number
E.731-1950

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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