The Kensington Connection

These objects look at the work of a number of Orientalists of the 19th Century, including Owen Jones, Christopher Dresser and James Wild, and how their links to the Kensington area and the formation of the Victoria & Albert Museum was intrinsic to the eventual acceptance of an Islamic Revival in architecture and design, thus presenting a polychromatic rebuttal to the peculiar whiteness of this period's neo-classical and Gothic Revivalist tendencies.

  • Details from the Alhambra

    Details from the Alhambra, Owen Jones and Jules Goury, volume, 1845. Museum no. NAL; 110.P.36

  • Decoration of the Great Exhibition building

    Owen Jones' scheme for the decoration of the Great Exhibition building, pen, ink and watercolour, William Simpson, 1850. Museum no. 546-1897

  • 'Persian' design

    'Persian', Design, Owen Jones, 1856. Museum no. 1619

  • Original Drawing for Grammar of Ornament

    Original Drawing for Owen Jones' Grammar of Ornament, Christopher Dresser and anon, watercolour, pencil, pen, 1856. Museum no. 1671

  • Diagram to illustrate botanical design lectures

    Diagram to illustrate botanical design lectures at the School of Design, pen, ink and watercolour, Christopher Dresser, 1855. Museum no. 3969

  • Designs for tiles

    Designs for tiles, watercolour, Owen Jones, about 1849. Museum number: 8115:5

  • The Alhambra Court in the Crystal Palace

    The Alhambra Court in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, photograph, Philip Henry Delamotte, 1854. Museum number: 39.315

  • Design for Christ Church, Streatham

    Design for Christ Church, Streatham, watercolour, James Wild, 1841. Museum no. E.3648-1938

  • Design for the Arab Hall

    Design for the Arab Hall, Leighton House, Kensington, watercolour and gold paint, George Aitchison, 1878. RIBA; SC124/4(5)

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