📍London, England
Hello dear reader!
On my third adventure to one of my favourite cities ever, I finally made it to the V&A. Huzzah!
What treasures inspired me there? Let’s walk inside and find out.
The Victoria & Albert Museum has almost 3 million art and design objects, everything from paintings to glasswork to fashion (sadly undergoing refurbishment while I was there).
I’d mapped out my self-guided tour in advance so I knew exactly where my first stop on the main level would be…
The Cast Courts
The Cast Courts are filled with plaster cast reproductions of famous sculptures like Michelangelo’s David. The most impressive is Trajan’s Column. The original stands in Rome, but the cast at the V&A is split in two pieces because the room is too small to hold it at full height (and the ceiling is already 25 meters/82 feet tall!).
On to a most sparkly collection…
The Jewelry Collection
Level 3 features 3,000 pieces of jewelry and this coronet is one of the showstoppers. Fun fact: A coronet differs from a crown because it is open on top, lacking the arches that go over the head.
I really enjoyed seeing the evolving styles of jewelry over the centuries and the range of metals and stones used.
William Morris
Being a huge fan of William Morris’ Arts and Crafts style, I found a selection of his work in the British Galleries. Bird and Anemone is a favourite. It is printed on fabric for furniture designs.
I’d love to do a piece like this with a flat coloured background and design work all in white. Something to add to my neverendling list of projects I think.
The Tapestry Collection
My final and favourite stop was the tapestry room. In this room the lights are dimmed and the air is cool to preserve the delicate textiles which often include silk. This room was also wonderful because I was there in the midst of a heatwave and it was HOT.
Falconry (1430) took up one length of the gallery and I couldn’t fit it entirely in frame (click the name to see it on the official V&A site).
But I did get good photos of two other tapestries that spoke to me.
When I see a unicorn I feel joy. That is all.
For our 90s Disney fans, The Three Fates also show up in the animated Hercules movie. Not as pretty, but pretty hilarious.
Some self-reflection…
Thinking about my own work, I’ve always wanted to have those dense flower backgrounds like in these tapestries and William Morris’ work. I attempted something like it in Secret Garden (left) but couldn’t figure out how to fill the entire background. This kind of style doesn’t come easy to me I guess.🤔
I hope you enjoyed this mini tour
If you go to the V&A, I also recommend seeing The Morris Room Cafe (designed by him) and, of course, the gift shop (delightful and I spent too much money there).
For now, I’ll be taking all this inspiration into my next round of art pieces in preparation for my fall show. Huzzah!
Take care dear reader!
Alys
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