V&A Network
V&A Network
Take a look at what goes on behind-the-scenes in the world’s greatest museum of art and design. From bestselling exhibitions to hidden gems in the collections, learn about our latest projects, ideas and discoveries.
Thursday, April 4, 2013 - 10:06
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By William Newton, Collections Management Assistant, Clothworkers' Centre for Textiles and Fashion Study and Conservation.If an item of dress is deemed sturdy enough, it is hung. More than four-thousand objects from the V&A’s fashion collection are stored on a hanger, which is essential for the management of our storage space. As the poet Ben Jonson realised, more (person-shaped)...
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - 11:02
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By Frances Willis, Acting Frederick Warne Curator of Children’s Literature. Since 1967, the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) has chosen Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday, 2 April to call attention to children’s books and to publicise and celebrate a love of reading worldwide. It seems therefore an apt time to consider the value for scholars and those who...
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - 08:46
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By Paula Nuttall, Director of Late Medieval to Early Renaissance Year Course. With Easter in mind - though in the current cold weather it feels more like Christmas, only without the mince pies, carols and good cheer – this week I’ve chosen Martin Schongauer’s beautiful engraving of The Resurrection of Christ. It comes from roughly the same time and place as last week’s...
Thursday, March 28, 2013 - 12:02
Guest post by Daniel Milford Cottam:Fancy some last minute inspiration for your Easter Bonnet? These six lithographs come from a series of eighteen of beautiful women in fantastical costumes representing various aspects of Paris. They were created in about 1910 by an artist signing himself simply as ‘Laviny’. We yet don’t know much about him, but he clearly had quite the...
Friday, March 22, 2013 - 16:09
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By Nicholas Smith, Archivist.For the V&A Archive’s contribution to International Women’s Month, I have chosen to profile Marion Thring, the first full-time female guide-lecturer at the V&A.Today, approximately 65% of the V&A’s workforce is female. This was not always the case; in the early twentieth century, museum work was considered a predominantly masculine...
Friday, March 22, 2013 - 13:01
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By Paula Nuttall, Director of Late Medieval to Early Renaissance Year Course. This statue of the blessing Christ riding a donkey is an appropriate choice of object for Holy Week. This type of image, known as a Palmesel (literally ‘Palm Ass’), was common in German towns during the late middle ages, and was carried in processions on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, evoking Christ...
Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 16:59
Guest post by Daniel Milford Cottam:“My wallpaper is killing me. One of us will have to go” – Oscar Wilde.Among many other things, the Prints, Drawings and Paintings collection also includes a spectacular selection of wallpapers. This post showcases some of the more striking, unusual and eclectic wall-coverings spanning the late 18th to the late 19th centuries. Click on the...
Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 16:52
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Dear DaveWhen I asked you if you wanted me to say anything here tonightYou said 'Only three words, one of them testicular..'So i'll pass that onHere I am at surely the most eclectic of all the London branches of Bowie AnonymousAll the nicest possible freaks are hereWe're in the Victoria and Albert Museum preparing to rifle through your drawersIt's truly an amazing thingThis...
Thursday, March 21, 2013 - 12:15
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Guest blog entry by Matthew HowlesThe work of Etienne Delaune creates a vivid portrait of a cosmopolitan artist who worked on a number of different subjects in various styles, and whose career was marked by both success and insecurity. Probably born in 1518, Delaune worked as a goldsmith in Paris in the 1550s. In 1552 he was appointed to the royal mint, where he would have produced metalwork...
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 - 09:50
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By James Sutton, Records and Archives Assistant, V&A Archive.The John Madejski Garden is an oasis in the centre of the Museum and now that Spring is here again we’ll be able to step out of the galleries and enjoy the courtyard garden to the full.The John Madejski Garden. © Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonThe Quadrangle (as the Garden space was originally known) has always played...