Sculpture techniques: bronze casting
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, and often also contains lead or zinc. It is strong and durable but can also c…
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The 'Chellini Madonna', by Donatello, about 1450
One of the Museum’s most prized possessions is the bronze roundel by Donatello depicting the Virgin and Child, give…
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Auguste Rodin working methods
Rodin's working methods combined a passionate response to the human body, and a delight in free, spontaneous drawin…
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Caring for your copper, brass, bronze & other alloys
Caring for copper, brass, bronze and other alloys.
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The Radiant Buddha
This standing figure of the Buddha Sakyamuni is one of only a tiny number of Indian metal Buddha images surviving f…
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The Artificial Patination of Bronze Sculpture
This research investigates the chemicals and techniques used in artificial patination and, more importantly, what h…
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'The Laughing Child' & 'The Crying Child', after François Roubiliac, about 1750
Pairs of the Laughing and Crying Child in bronze are highly unusual .This pair is almost certainly British, and pro…
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Burial customs in China
The custom of burying grave goods with dead bodies lasted a long time, so the artefacts that remain range from Neolithic times (about 5000 BC) to the end of the Ming dynasty (1644). Inevitably, most of them come from the graves of the few with wealth and power; the lives of most people passed into history unrecorded.
Charles Drury Edward Fortnum
Charles Drury Edward Fortnum became involved with the South Kensington Museum when he loaned objects to its ‘Special exhibition of works of art’ in 1862. He was also commissioned to write catalogues of the Museum’s collections of majolica and European bronzes. Between 1875 and 1881 Fortnum was consulted as one of the Museum’s art referees.
Obituary of John Forrest Hayward
John Forrest Hayward (1916–83) was a distinguished art historian and specialist in the study of arms and armour. He spent WWII with the Special Operations Executive, fitting out agents to be parachuted behind the enemy lines and in 1945 he joined the Monuments and Fine Arts Office in Austria. In 1949 he joined the Metalwork Department of the Victoria & Albert Museum, allowing him to widen his field of studies to include gold and silver plate, jewellery and bronze. In 1956 he became Deputy Keeper of the Department of Furniture and Woodwork.
Plaquettes 1400-1550
Plaquettes are small plaques made of bronze, brass, lead or precious metals. They originated in the 1440s with the desire to reproduce coins and hardstone engravings from ancient Greece and Rome.
Chinese metalwork reading list
Recommended reading about Chinese Metalwork
Donate to the Stained Glass Appeal
We are currently working on an exciting project to conserve and re-install the original stained glass on the landings of the Manfred and Lydia Gorvy Lecture Theatre. We need your help to raise £75,000 to bring these historical features back to their former glory for us all to enjoy.
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Bells and Mortars
The first volume in English devoted to this subject, this is a complete catalogue of the V&A's collection of Italian bronzes.
Buy nowEvent - Arts of Early China: Neolithic to the Song Dynasty
Mon 24 September 2012 10:30
SHORT COURSE: Discover over 4,000 years of arts in early China.
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