William Deane Butler and Edmund Walker, 'Owen Jones's decoration of the transept of the Great Exhibition'

William Deane Butler and Edmund Walker, 'Owen Jones'decoration of the transept of the Great Exhibition', 1850. Museum no. AL.8270

William Deane Butler and Edmund Walker
'Owen Jones's decoration of the transept of the Great Exhibition'
1850
Watercolour on paper
Museum no. AL.8270

Owen Jones submitted this as one of two paintings which formed part of the final approval process for his design for the decoration of the Crystal Palace interior. Inspired by the use of primary colours in ancient Egypt and Greece, and at the Alhambra, he intended the colour scheme to form a 'neutralised bloom'. Commentators at the time compared the beauty of this 'hazy indistinctness' to the paintings of Turner.

Jones believed that colour should help define 'form' within architecture. He used primary colours to distinguish between the Crystal Palace' numerous iron columns and to create a sense of depth and perspective. The central fabric hangings shown in the William Simpson watercolour never materialised, but they would have complemented the hanging carpets in creating the atmosphere of an eastern bazaar.

William Simpson, 'Owen Jones's design for the interior of the Great Exhibition'

William Simpson, 'Owen Jones's design for the interior of the Great Exhibition', 1850. Museum no. 546-1897

William Simpson
'Owen Jones's design for the interior of the Great Exhibition'
1850
Watercolour on Paper
Museum no. 546-1897

Jones submitted this as one of two paintings which formed part of the final approval process for his design for the decoration of the Crystal Palace interior. Inspired by the use of primary colours in ancient Egypt and Greece, and at the Alhambra, he intended the colour scheme to form a 'neutralised bloom'. Commentators at the time compared the beauty of this 'hazy indistinctness' to the paintings of Turner.

Jones believed that colour should help define 'form' within architecture. He used primary colours to distinguish between the Crystal Palace's numerous iron columns and to create a sense of depth and perspective. The central fabric hangings shown in the William Simpson watercolour never materialised, but they would have complemented the hanging carpets in creating the atmosphere of an eastern bazaar.

Philip Henry Delamotte, 'The Alhambra Court at the Crystal Palace

Philip Henry Delamotte, 'The Alhambra Court at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham', 1854. Museum no. 39:315

Philip Henry Delamotte
'The Alhambra Court at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham'
1854
Museum no. 39:315

After the Great Exhibition closed, the Crystal Palace was re-erected in south London as a permanent venue for education and entertainment. Its focus shifted away from contemporary manufactures and towards 'best' examples of historical design. Jones was one of the people responsible for designing a series of 'Fine Arts Courts', which included an Egyptian, Greek, Roman and even an Alhambra Court, as shown here.

These courts were created so that visitors could take a journey through the finest examples of architectural and design history. Jones's seminal design sourcebook, 'The Grammar of Ornament', published in 1856, could be considered as the Sydenham Crystal Palace in expanded book form. The publication employed chapters instead of physical architectural courts, and crucially had the capability of reaching a much wider audience, acting very much like a 'mobile' museum of design.

Owen Jones, Design for an exhibition building at St Cloud

Owen Jones, Design for an exhibition building at St Cloud, 1860. Museum no. E.10-1937.

Owen Jones
Design for an exhibition building at St Cloud
1860
Museum no. E.10-1937.

A few years after the Sydenham Crystal Palace was opened, Jones was asked to design its north London counterpart - the 'Palace of the People' on Muswell Hill. Facilities were to include a lecture hall, theatre and winter garden. Jones was also asked to design a similar exhibition building in St Cloud, just outside Paris. Unfortunately neither project was built.

Owen Jones, Perspective view for an exhibition building at St Cloud

Owen Jones, Perspective view for an exhibition building at St Cloud, 1860. Museum no. D.946-1886.

Owen Jones
Perspective view for an exhibition building at St Cloud
1860
Museum no. D.946-1886.

This presentation drawing shows the final design for Jones's proposed exhibition building just outside Paris. The distinctive bulbous shape of the central dome derives from Islamic mosques. A few years earlier, Jones had been involved in a proposal to create a vast iron and glass roof over Leicester Square to house a theatre and winter garden complex.