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Interior view of north-east gallery, South Kensington Museum (the 'Brompton Boilers')

Photograph
1856 (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
TitleInterior view of north-east gallery, South Kensington Museum (the 'Brompton Boilers') (generic title)
Materials and techniques
albumen print
Brief description
Mounted albumen print, Charles Thurston Thompson, interior view, north-east gallery, South Kensington Museum (the 'Brompton Boilers') under construction, 1856
Physical description
A mounted albumen print of the South Kensington Museum under construction with gas light fixtures visible among the scaffolding framework. There is a brick chimney in the distance and small piles of dirt on the fall.
Dimensions
  • Image height: 22.3cm
  • Image width: 28.6cm
  • Mount height: 26.7cm
  • Mount width: 33.2cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'A.b. London N.E. Gallery - int' (classification system label)
  • 'IIaa S.K. Museum. Progress of the Iron Building' (ink, on mount)
Subjects 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.
Other numbers
  • 807 (MA/32/3) - Negative number (V&A Archive Guard Book reference)
  • 929 (MA/32/4) - Negative number (V&A Archive Guard Book reference)
Collection
Accession number
33948

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Record createdJuly 1, 2009
Record URL
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