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Dutch and Flemish

Stained Glass Design
ca. 1870 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

As carried out during the late 1860s and 1870s, the interior of the Lecture Theatre block of the Victoria and Albert Museum - containing the Lecture Theatre, Ceramic Gallery (now the Silver Gallery, Rooms 65-69) and refreshment rooms - was elaborately decorated. This pen and ink drawing comprises one of William Bell Scott’s designs for the fourteen stained-glass windows in the Ceramic Gallery. Henry Cole, the first director of the Museum, was responsible for the theme. Mirroring the arrangement of ceramic items within the gallery, the stained-glass windows depicted historical periods of ceramic manufacture: this design is labelled Dutch-Flemish. Scott executed the designs by painting onto glass panes with a brush, keeping the windows virtually free of colour (yellow being the only stain used) so as not to darken the gallery. Scott also designed two stained-glass windows for the landings of the two staircases leading up from the Ceramic Gallery to the Lecture Theatre.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleDutch and Flemish
Materials and techniques
Pen and ink with watercolour on paper
Brief description
Design for Victoria and Albert Museum by William Bell Scott, Ceramic Gallery, stained glass window (Dutch-Flemish), ca. 1870
Physical description
Small-scale pen and ink drawing with yellow watercolour on paper. Arranged as four yellow-bordered rectangular lights, this design for stained glass in a recess in the Ceramic Gallery (now the Silver Gallery, Rooms 65-69) is labelled 'Dutch-Flemish'. The upper pair of lights contain scenes of hatted merchants loading and selling ceramics, each with a townscape and ship visible in the background. Each containing a figure seated upon scrolling foliate motifs, the decoration of the lower pair of lights resembles medieval manuscript illumination. Detail of flowered border for window lights. Annotated; some measurements; marked 'Appd design 2/6/70'.
Dimensions
  • Height of paper height: 32cm
  • Width of paper width: 22cm
Places depicted
Summary
As carried out during the late 1860s and 1870s, the interior of the Lecture Theatre block of the Victoria and Albert Museum - containing the Lecture Theatre, Ceramic Gallery (now the Silver Gallery, Rooms 65-69) and refreshment rooms - was elaborately decorated. This pen and ink drawing comprises one of William Bell Scott’s designs for the fourteen stained-glass windows in the Ceramic Gallery. Henry Cole, the first director of the Museum, was responsible for the theme. Mirroring the arrangement of ceramic items within the gallery, the stained-glass windows depicted historical periods of ceramic manufacture: this design is labelled Dutch-Flemish. Scott executed the designs by painting onto glass panes with a brush, keeping the windows virtually free of colour (yellow being the only stain used) so as not to darken the gallery. Scott also designed two stained-glass windows for the landings of the two staircases leading up from the Ceramic Gallery to the Lecture Theatre.
Associated objects
Bibliographic reference
Physick, John. The Victoria and Albert Museum: The History of Its Building. London: The Victoria & Albert Museum, 1982.
Collection
Accession number
8099:1

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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