There was an enormous revival of interest in Classical and Renaissance art from about 1850. Archaeological discoveries in Greece, Italy and Egypt fuelled the imagination of designers. Renaissance art and architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries, itself inspired by ancient Rome, also had a great influence. Classical and Renaissance pieces were sometimes copied quite closely, but often a variety of forms and motifs were combined or reinterpreted.
Bust of Alfred Stevens
Edouard Lanteri
1911
Plaster
Museum no. A.6-1912
Model for Wellington Monument: Truth and Falsehood
Alfred Stevens
1867-8
Plaster
Museum no. 321A-1878
Photograph
David Wilkie Wynfield (photographer)
1860s
Albumen print from wet-collodion glass-plate negative
Museum no. 133-1945
Cartoon for the wall painting 'The Arts of Industry as Applied to War'
Oil painting
Frederic, Lord Leighton
1870-1872
Oil on canvas
Museum no. 296-1907
Photograph
Frederick Hollyer (photographer)
About 1890
Platinum print
Museum no. 7732-1938
Cleopatra at Philae
Oil painting
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
About 1850-1912
Oil on canvas
Museum no. P.40-1921