Crystal Palace nave, Hyde Park thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case X, Shelf 354, Box B

Crystal Palace nave, Hyde Park

Photograph
1852 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
The Great Exhibition included photography classified in both the science and the fine art sections. This photograph shows the vast empty exhibition building.

Materials & Making
Benjamin Brecknell Turner (1815-1894) began practising photography in 1849 according to the technique patented in 1841 by the British inventor W.H. Fox Talbot (1800-1877). Turner's photographs were 'contact' printed from paper negatives (known as 'calotypes') of the same size, 27 by 39 centimetres. He printed them on 'albumen' paper made by suspending light sensitive silver salts in an emulsion of egg white.

Places
The interior of the Crystal Palace is shown at Hyde Park in March 1852, shortly after the closure of the Great Exhibition and prior to the dismantling of the structure that year for its rebuilding at Sydenham in South London.

Ownership & Use
Turner compiled 60 photographs, including this one, in what is believed to be a unique album, 'Photographic Views from Nature'. It might have been made as a sample book, a convenient method of storing and presenting photographs for personal pleasure and showing to colleagues or potential exhibitors. It remained in the Turner family until 1982 when it was bought by the Museum.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleCrystal Palace nave, Hyde Park (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print from calotype (waxed paper) negative
Brief description
Photograph of Crystal Palace nave, Hyde Park, Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 1852
Physical description
Photograph
Dimensions
  • Mount height: 500mm
  • Mount width: 350mm
Gallery label
British Galleries: This photograph shows the interior of the Crystal Palace at Hyde Park shortly after the closure of the Great Exhibition and prior to the dismantling of the structure for its re-building at Sydenham. The Great Exhibition included a significant showing of photography which was classified in both the science and the fine art sections.(27/03/2003)
Place depicted
Summary
Object Type
The Great Exhibition included photography classified in both the science and the fine art sections. This photograph shows the vast empty exhibition building.

Materials & Making
Benjamin Brecknell Turner (1815-1894) began practising photography in 1849 according to the technique patented in 1841 by the British inventor W.H. Fox Talbot (1800-1877). Turner's photographs were 'contact' printed from paper negatives (known as 'calotypes') of the same size, 27 by 39 centimetres. He printed them on 'albumen' paper made by suspending light sensitive silver salts in an emulsion of egg white.

Places
The interior of the Crystal Palace is shown at Hyde Park in March 1852, shortly after the closure of the Great Exhibition and prior to the dismantling of the structure that year for its rebuilding at Sydenham in South London.

Ownership & Use
Turner compiled 60 photographs, including this one, in what is believed to be a unique album, 'Photographic Views from Nature'. It might have been made as a sample book, a convenient method of storing and presenting photographs for personal pleasure and showing to colleagues or potential exhibitors. It remained in the Turner family until 1982 when it was bought by the Museum.
Bibliographic reference
Hoozee, Robert (ed.), British Vision. Observation and Imagination in British Art 1750-1950, Brussels : Mercatorfonds ; Ghent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 2007 25
Collection
Accession number
PH.2-1982

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Record createdFebruary 25, 2003
Record URL
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