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London: South Kensington Museum. Photograph of the making of the museum, 1857.

Photograph
1857 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Photographs and photographers were present from the very beginning of the V&A's history and the Museum has an extensive collection of images from the 1850s through to the present which documents the construction and development of the V&A and the South Kensington site.

Originally collected by the National Art Library as part of a programme to record works of art, architecture and design in the interest of public education, these topographic and architectural views were valued as records and as source material for students of architecture and design. As well as being crucial records of the history of the V&A, and an important element within the National Art Library's visual encyclopaedia, these photographs are also significant artefacts in the history of the art of photography.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • London: South Kensington Museum. Photograph of the making of the museum, 1857. (popular title)
  • South Kensington Museum, The Educational Museum looking towards the Patent Museum ('Brompton Boilers') (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print
Brief description
Photograph, South Kensington Museum ('Brompton Boilers'), the Educational Museum looking towards the Patent Museum, albumen print, 1857
Physical description
A sepia-coloured photograph mounted on green card showing the interior of a gallery display including framed posters of steam engines on the walls and glass display cases. There is an upper galleried section.
Dimensions
  • Image height: 249mm
  • Image width: 297mm
  • Card height: 268mm
  • Card width: 331mm
Marks and inscriptions
London: South Kensington Museum. / Photograph of the making of the / museum, 1857. (Label, bottom right.)
Subject depicted
Place depicted
Summary
Photographs and photographers were present from the very beginning of the V&A's history and the Museum has an extensive collection of images from the 1850s through to the present which documents the construction and development of the V&A and the South Kensington site.

Originally collected by the National Art Library as part of a programme to record works of art, architecture and design in the interest of public education, these topographic and architectural views were valued as records and as source material for students of architecture and design. As well as being crucial records of the history of the V&A, and an important element within the National Art Library's visual encyclopaedia, these photographs are also significant artefacts in the history of the art of photography.
Associated object
32:057 (Version)
Bibliographic reference
Julius Bryant, ed. Art and Design for All. The Victoria and Albert Museum London: V&A Publishing, 2011. ISBN: 9781851776665.
Other number
802, 32057, GE2003 - Negative number (V&A Archive Guard Book reference)
Collection
Accession number
1952-1938

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Record createdJuly 1, 2009
Record URL
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