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.
Friday, February 1, 2013 - 13:59
Hand-coloured lithograph by an unknown artist. French, 1850-1870.E.2877-1938Guest post by Daniel Milford Cottam, continued from Part 1...Writing from the point of view of a fashion historian, the clothes of the cantinières and vivandières fascinate me. While popular imagery shows eighteenth and early nineteenth century cantinières dressed in feminised versions of military uniform, Thomas Cardoza...
Friday, February 1, 2013 - 11:27
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By Paula Nuttall, Director of the Late Medieval to Early Renaissance Year Course. To celebrate our past twenty years, between now and the end of the academic year in July I’ll be posting a weekly blog featuring twenty Medieval and Renaissance objects from the period 1250-1500 in the V&A. They won’t always be the most famous ones – in fact this will be an opportunity to...
Friday, February 1, 2013 - 11:09
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By Rosemary Cronin, Learning Facilitator. The February half term holidays are fast approaching and once again we will have a great calendar of events taking place throughout the Museum for families to take part in. To give you a taste of the kind of events of taking place, as part of the October Half-term activities for families celebrating Hollywood Costume, the Museum ran a number of workshops...
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - 12:59
Guest post by Daniel Milford Cottam: Hand-coloured lithograph by an unknown artist. French, 1850-1870.E.2872-1938Today’s find is a group of six hand-coloured lithographs dated to the French Second Empire (1852-1870) showing the costumes of cantinières in the French Army. Cantinières (also known as vivandières) were women who officially served alongside their husbands in the armed combat...
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - 09:41
Guest post by Zoe ClaytonA stereograph is composed of two pictures mounted next to each other, viewed with a set of lenses known as a stereoscope. Taken around 7cm apart, roughly corresponding to the spacing of the eyes, the left picture represents what the left eye would see, and likewise for the right, so when observing the pictures through a stereoscopic viewer, the pair of photographs...
Monday, January 28, 2013 - 16:42
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28 January 2013 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice. Thanks to numerous TV and film adaptations of her works, Jane Austen’s name has become synonymous with the neo-classical style of dress that was popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries – it is almost impossible to imagine Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy...
Saturday, January 26, 2013 - 11:43
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By Paula Nuttall, Director of Late Medieval to Early Renaissance Year Course. The Late Medieval to Early Renaissance Year Course is marking its 20th anniversary in 2012-13. It’s the longest running of the V&A’s six Year Courses, each of which runs one day of the week during term-time, for a full academic year. Each day consists of three lectures on related themes, and there are...
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - 10:00
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By Lucy Trench, Lead Educator for the Europe 1600–1800 galleries. These galleries, due to open in December 2014, are the next big gallery development after Medieval & Renaissance. When I took on the role of educator, I wondered how we could refresh our usual package of gallery interpretation and also show some of the social and intellectual changes that took place between 1600 and 1800...
Friday, January 18, 2013 - 13:54
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As a blanket of snow falls across the UK, it seems like a good time to highlight some objects in the Museum’s collections with wintry stories to tell.The Frost Fair MugThe winter of 1683-4 was so cold that the River Thames froze over. The ice was so thick that Londoners were able to head onto the river and engage in such incongruous activities as fox-hunting, bear-baiting and football. They...
Thursday, January 10, 2013 - 13:58
One of the real privileges of working at a place like the Victoria and Albert Museum is being able to see behind the scenes and come across fascinating things by chance.We’ve been seeing such wonders over the last five years on the Factory project, so I and the rest of the team am delighted to be able to start sharing them with you more directly as we find them.If your curiosity is piqued...