The Victoria and Albert Museum

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In many ways the Victoria and Albert Museum is much more interesting than the British Museum. The collections are certainly more varied. They have colorful and beautiful objects in the following categories: architecture, Asia, British collection, ceramics, childhood, contemporary applied art (such a furniture and appliances), fashion and jewelry, furniture, glass, historical styles, metal work, painting and drawing, photography, prints and sculpture, and textiles.

To amass a good collection in any of these categories would be an achievement for any museum. The V&A has beautiful objects of great craftsmanship and historical value in all the exhibitions I saw. We had only a few hours before closing and were able to see the sculpture galleries, the cast collection, stained glass and silver, the photography galleries, painting and drawing.

We entered the museum from a subway (tunnel) entrance that connects to the South Kensington tube station. The first room we saw was a figurative sculpture gallery with natural light streaming in. Several students and children were there sketching the figures. None of the artworks there would be considered masterpieces, but they were all created by professional artists who were well known in their day.

From the Renaissance to the 19th century, basic training for all artists was to make drawings from casts of famous sculptures. The V&A has an impressive collection of casts from very famous sculptures, including the Ancient Roman column of the Emperor Trajan (see photo). The column is full size so it had to be cut in two to fit into the museum. I especially loved the casts of the tomb effigies. Most of the originals are in cathedrals in England. It was interesting to see kings and queens and knights lying with their legs crossed or praying. One of my favorite effigies was of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (wife of Henry II and mother of King Richard the Lion-Hearted). She was a fascinating woman in her own right and one of my heroes. For a short, enjoyable course about Eleanor, watch the 1968 film, Lion in Winter.

The museum has a display of stained glass from the Gothic period to contemporary works. There are beautifully crafted crucifixes of precious metal in the same room.

Since reading the book Shogun, by James Clavell I've been fascinated by Japan so I really enjoyed the display of samurai armor and the beautifully embroidered and painted silk kimonos. There were three huge rooms devoted to China, with architecture, furniture, and the yellow silk gowns embroidered in red that were worn only by emperors and empresses. They even had some lovely Korean ceremonial gowns displayed with ceramic pieces from that country.

The V&A is known for their great high fashion exhibitions. Presently, they are showing an exhibit called, "The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London, 1947-1957." There was an admission charge to this exhibit. After dragging Jay through the Fashion Museum in Bath, I couldn't interest him in this exhibit, so I'll have to see their fashion collection another time. You would have to visit the museum several times just to see everything on display. We ran out of energy and time.

We did see the painting and photography galleries. Because the emphasis seems to be on the applied arts like furniture and crafts, I didn't expect to see many interesting paintings. Boy, was I wrong. They have an excellent painting by Degas (see photo) that shows the opera orchestra and ballet dancers in the background. The brushstrokes are of such quality it is easy to forget Degas worked mostly in pastel. Don't settle for seeing photos of Degas' work in an art book. You must be before the actual surface textures to believe their beauty.

There was a whole room full of oil sketches that the famous English landscape artist, Constable did out in the open air in preparation for his large oil paintings. After seeing the beautiful landscape of southern England these past three months, I can understand why there are so many British artists who specialize in the subject. As a painter, seeing the process of how the artist goes from doodle to drawing to oil sketch to full size painting is fascinating.

The room beyond the Constable contained several fine examples of portrait miniatures, starting with Nicholas Hilliard in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. It's astounding how detailed these small paintings are. Some of them are the same size as wallet photos. It would drive me nuts or blind to do paint such a small portrait. Even if you could care less about painting; the craftsmanship is still awe inspiring.

Looking at art is thirsty, tiring work, so we got something to drink in the cafe and sat in the courtyard. Many on the women sitting there were dressed like they got lost on their way to a fashion show in Milan and took a detour here..

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Photos

Crosses
This case is in the Stained Glass room

Eleanor of Aquitaine
Wife of two kings, mother of two kings, and the wealthiest woman in Europe in her day

Trajan's Column
cast of the Ancient Roman column. The carving shows the battle in which Trajan emerged victorious over the Dacians

Degas painting
this painting depicts the ballet interlude of a Meyerbeer opera

Constable
oil sketch of clouds done on site

Hilliard Portrait miniature
The portrait of an unidentified woman was painted on vellum in jewel-like detail

Comments

[Jana]

Facinating photographs, thank you for sharing!!

[Jamie]

Looking Good
Hi Leisa As usual you have taken some fabulous photo! I think this is what you should do for a living. Travel the world to all the fabulous places to see, and take pictures of all of it, and of course give us your commentary. You are so good at this. It could be a best selling book as well. love Jamie