Not currently on display at the V&A

Mirror frame

Mirror Frame
ca.1863 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This mirror frame was cast in a waste mould taken from the original model executed by Alfred Stevens as part of the decoration for the dining room at Dorchester House. Dorchester House was a stately mansion in Park Lane built in 1853 by Robert Stayner Holford, a wealthy landowner, art collector, and a Member of Parliament. Alfred Stevens designed and executed the fittings for Dorchester House between 1863 and 1865. The mansion was demolished in 1929.

A sculptor, designer and painter, Alfred Stevens (1817/18-1875) rejected contemporary distinctions between fine art and design. From 1850 to 1857 he was chief designer to Hoole & Co., Sheffield, where he produced award-winning designs for metalwork, majolica, terracotta ornaments and chimney-pieces. Perhaps his two greatest works were the decorations for the dining-room at Dorchester House, London (about 1856), for which he made countless drawings inspired by the Italian High Renaissance style, in particular the work of Michelangelo and the monument to the Duke of Wellington for St Paul's Cathedral, London, which was completed after his death. The two allegorical groups from this monument made a lasting impact on the New Sculpture movement.
The influence of the Italian Renaissance is evident in much of Steven's work, and is perhaps best reflected in the Wellington monument.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleMirror frame (named collection)
Materials and techniques
Plaster in glazed wood frame
Brief description
Mirror frame, plaster in glazed wood frame, cast from model for Dorchester House, designed by Alfred Stevens, England, ca. 1863
Physical description
Mirror frame. Plaster, ornamented in relief at the sides with quarter columns, surmounted by grotesques of birds, floral scrolls and bands; along the bottom are three brackets supporting the oblong opening which is decorated with classic mouldings; at the top in the centre is a vase surrounded by floral scrolls. This frame was cast in a waste-mould taken from the original model executed as part of the decoration of Dorchester House.
Dimensions
  • Height: 91.5cm
  • Width: 77cm
Object history
Purchased from John R. Clayton Esq. in 1890 for £10. This may be the 'small-scale plaster cast of frame of mirror in Dorchester House' purchased by Clayton for 7s at the sale of Stevens's studio effects by Messrs Robinson and Fisher, on 19 July 1877 (lot 32). The sale is noted as an appendix to Towndrow 1950.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This mirror frame was cast in a waste mould taken from the original model executed by Alfred Stevens as part of the decoration for the dining room at Dorchester House. Dorchester House was a stately mansion in Park Lane built in 1853 by Robert Stayner Holford, a wealthy landowner, art collector, and a Member of Parliament. Alfred Stevens designed and executed the fittings for Dorchester House between 1863 and 1865. The mansion was demolished in 1929.

A sculptor, designer and painter, Alfred Stevens (1817/18-1875) rejected contemporary distinctions between fine art and design. From 1850 to 1857 he was chief designer to Hoole & Co., Sheffield, where he produced award-winning designs for metalwork, majolica, terracotta ornaments and chimney-pieces. Perhaps his two greatest works were the decorations for the dining-room at Dorchester House, London (about 1856), for which he made countless drawings inspired by the Italian High Renaissance style, in particular the work of Michelangelo and the monument to the Duke of Wellington for St Paul's Cathedral, London, which was completed after his death. The two allegorical groups from this monument made a lasting impact on the New Sculpture movement.
The influence of the Italian Renaissance is evident in much of Steven's work, and is perhaps best reflected in the Wellington monument.
Bibliographic references
  • List of Objects in the Art Division South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1890. Arranged according to the dates of acquisition, with appendix and indices. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1891, p. 69
  • Bilbey, Diane with Trusted, Marjorie. British Sculpture 1470 to 2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V& A Publications, 2002, pp. 393-4, cat. no. 529
Collection
Accession number
594-1890

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Record createdNovember 3, 2008
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