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London's V&A
Title: Woodland Scene with Pond and Cattle, 18th Century
Artist: Thomas Gainsborough (English 1727-1788)
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
Gainsborough, Constable, brilliant designed Rooms, silver, textiles and Leonardo da Vinci. Spectacular exhibits all in their own right, they are together. Add to that the Italian
Renaissance and a look at Sixties fashion. These are all reasons to make sure to spend time at London's dazzling
Victoria & Albert Museum.
Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design: September 14, 2006 - January 7, 2007
Title: Determining the Volume of Regular and Irregular Solids, c1505.
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci (Italian 1452-1519)
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
The mind of a genius is explored in Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design. It includes 60 examples of his drawings and notebooks,
all drawn from British collections. His writings will be brought to life with several large-scale models of da Vinci's designs and computer animations illustrating his vision.
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Title: Head of a man with long wavy hair and a long beard, in profile to the left.
Below, the words 'Leonardo Vinci'.
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci (Italian 1452-1519)
Medium: Red Chalk on White Paper
Dimensions: 27.5 x 19 cm
Royal Collection © 2006 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Image Courtesy: Victoria and Albert Museum
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The exhibition curator, Professor Martin Kemp, said: “Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts reveal to us his thought processes.
They have no parallel in any period and anyone wanting to understand the workings of Leonardo's mind should turn to these notebooks.
The notebooks question everything and investigate every aspect of nature. Unlike other artists of the period Leonardo used his notebooks not as
workings for finished paintings but as a vehicle to understand the world around him.”
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At Home in Renaissance Italy: October 5, 2006-January 7, 2006
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The interior decor of Renaissance Italy is a unique exhibit looking at its critical role in the development of Italian art and collection. The three-dimensional view
presents rooms as lived-in, object-filled spaces designed to truly bring the Renaissance to life.
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Title: St. Jerome in his Study, (c. 1475)
Artist: Antonello da Messina (Italian 1430-1479)
© The National Gallery, London
Image Courtesy: Victoria and Albert Museum
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The exhibition includes masterpieces by Donatello, Carpaccio, Botticelli, Titian and Veronese,
along with and treasures from the Medici and other private collections. These will be found next to day-to-day items.
Title: Sisters Playing Chess, (1555)
Artist: Sofonisba Anguissola (Italian 1532-1625)
© Muzeum Narodowe, Poznan, The Raczynski Foundation
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
At Home in Renaissance Italy will focus on the main rooms – the sala (reception room), camera (bedroom) and scrittoio (study) that were indicative of a wealthy owner who could
afford decorative items to fill his beautiful home.
Title: Birth of the Virgin, (c. 1504-8)
Artist: Vittore Carpaccio (Italian 1455-1525)
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo © Scala
Image Courtesy: Victoria and Albert Museum
Marta Ajmar-Wollheim, co-curator of the exhibition, said, “This exhibition highlights for the first time the central role the
domestic interior played in Italian Renaissance art and culture. It shows that the Renaissance was not only the product of the city, court and church –
emphasizing instead the crucial contribution of the homes of the merchants and professional middle classes.”
Flora Dennis, co-curator of the exhibition, added, “Many of the fine art objects we now associate with the Renaissance began their lives within a domestic setting.
The aim of this exhibition is to place these beautiful items within their
original context and look afresh at the Renaissance through the prism of household life and everyday objects.”
History of the V&A
Title: Aerial View of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
Following the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, held in London in 1851 in the Crystal Palace at Hyde Park, the impetus for the creation of a permanent
home to showcase the best of British industry & art was needed. First the Museum of Ornamental Art, in Marlborough House, was formed in 1852. Its goal was to to make works of art available to
all, to educate, and to inspire British designers. The collection quickly outgrew its home and in 1899 Queen Victoria laid the cornerstone for what became the Victoria & Albert museum.
It was subsequently named to honor the work done by Prince Albert allowing its creation.
Sixties Fashion: through February 25, 2007
Title: Model wearing Mary Quant dress with the Rolling Stones
Photographer: John French
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
There is still time to view Sixties Fashion. The swinging sixties, the time of the British invasion across the pond featured not only the music of the Beatles, the Rolling Stone,
and other noted artists but fashion as well. Fashion designers such as Mary Quant became just as famous as the British musicians.
The Collection
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The V&A is home to an international collection of paintings, sculpture,
prints, ceramics, glass, textiles, dress, silver, ironwork, jewelry,
furniture and photographs spanning the cultures and ages. |
Title: In A Shoreham Garden, c. 1830
Artist: Samuel Palmer (English 1805-1891)
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
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Paintings Gallery: John Constable
Title: Water Meadows Near Salisbury, 1829
Artist: John Constable (1776-1837)
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
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Title: Study of the Trunk of an Elm Tree, 1821
Artist: John Constable (1776-1837)
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
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The V&A has the largest collection of John Constable paintings in the world. His daughter Isabel gave her collection of her father's work to the V&A, which
included 390 paintings and drawings in various media such as oil, watercolor, pen and pencil.
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British Galleries: 1500-1900
Title: Norfolk House Music Room from the British Galleries, 1756.
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
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One of the highlights of walking through the V&A is the opportunity to visit the British Galleries which
showcase the most comprehensive collection of British art and design available anywhere. Highlights include Henry VIII's writing desk and James II's wedding suit.
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Title: State Bed from Melville House C. 1700.
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
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Title: Portrait of an Unknown Man, 1530s
Artist: Hans Holbein the Younger (German 1497-1543)
Medium: Oil on Oak Panel
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
Medieval and Renaissance Collection
Title: Casket for the relics of St Thomas Becket, France, about 1180
Medium: Gilt, Copper and Champleve on a Wooden Core
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
The 12th-century casket for the remains of Thomas Becket and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci are some
of the artifacts in the V&A's collection from the medieval and Renaissance timeframe.
Furniture & Furnishings
Title: Detail of The Boar and Bear Hunt, Devonshire Hunting Tapestry
South Netherlands, About 1440
Medium: Woven in Wool
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
One of the medieval tapestries in the collection is the Devonshire Hunting Tapestry, which is a series of tapestries that depict typical court activities of its time
such as hunting.
Silver Galleries
Title: Pair of Gauntlets, Spanish. c. 1614.
Medium: Decorated with Silver and Blue Gilding, Red Silk, Gold and Silver Thread.
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
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Title: Ewer, Spanish (possibly Toledo). c.1530.
Medium: Silver.
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
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Currently there are over 10,000 silver objects in the V&A silver collection. Just two of the fabulous items in this portion of the V&A's holdings
are a salver that Sir Robert Walpole commissioned in 1728 to commemorate his time as the Chancellor of the Exchequer and a large soup tureen presented along
with a dinner service to the Duke of Wellington from the Portuguese government.
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Jewelry Sections Reopens March 2008
Title: Floral Necklace
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
One of the finest jewelry collections in the world is found at the V&A. Currently that section is closed but will reopen in March of 2008. It is worth the trip alone to see the
spectacular gems & jewelry.
Title: Emerald Necklace and Earrings
Image Courtesy & ©: Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria & Albert Museum has one of the finest decorative art collections in the world. Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design along
with At Home in Renaissance Italy are two additional reasons to visit or re-visit London's V&A.
Sixties Fashion:
through February 25, 2007
Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment and Design
September 14, 2006 - January 7, 2007
At Home in Renaissance Italy
October 5, 2006 - January 7, 2007
V&A Museum, London:
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