The Sultanganj Buddha is a Gupta – Pala transitional period sculpture, the largest substantially complete copper Buddha figure known from the time. The statue is dated to between 500 and 700 AD (but see below). It is 2.3 m high and 1 m wide, with a weight over 500 kg. It was found in the East Indian town of Sultanganj , Bhagalpur district , Bihar in 1861 during the construction of the East Indian Railway . It is now in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery , Birmingham , England.
157-446: Over life-size, this is "the only remaining metal statue of any size" from Gupta art , out of what was at the time probably approximately as numerous a type as stone or stucco statues. The metal Brahma from Mirpur-Khas is older, but about half the size. The Jain Akota bronzes and some other finds are much smaller still, probably figures for shrines in well-off homes. In Lalitpur, Nepal
314-403: A black encrustation of fine clay minerals, which are the result of the long period exposure to atmospheric agents and the burial", except where museum visitors had touched the fingers of the proper left hand, wearing away this coating and leaving at least their tips brightly polished and light and gold-like in colour. It is probable that this was the original appearance of the whole surface except
471-526: A broadly Gupta style, the caves at Ajanta , Elephanta , and Ellora (respectively Buddhist, Hindu, and mixed including Jain) were in fact produced under other dynasties in Central India, and in the case of Ellora after the Gupta period, but primarily reflect the monumentality and balance of Guptan style. Ajanta contains by far the most significant survivals of painting from this and the surrounding periods, showing
628-450: A complex history, with piecemeal additions by different architects. Founded in May 1852, it was not until 1857 that the museum moved to its present site. This area of London, previously known as Brompton , had been renamed 'South Kensington'. The land was occupied by Brompton Park House , which was extended, most notably by the "Brompton Boilers", which were starkly utilitarian iron galleries with
785-484: A deer or elephant or other animal. The Ajanta paintings have seriously deteriorated since they were rediscovered in 1819, and are now mostly hard to appreciate at the site. A number of early attempts to copy them met with misfortune . Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A ) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts , decorative arts and design , housing
942-529: A dormer window dated 1523–1535 from the chateau of Montal. There are several examples from Italian Renaissance buildings including, portals, fireplaces, balconies and a stone buffet that used to have a built-in fountain. The main architecture gallery has a series of pillars from various buildings and different periods, for example, a column from the Alhambra . Examples covering Asia are in those galleries concerned with those countries, as well as models and photographs in
1099-510: A few paintings, scrolls and screens, textiles and dress including kimono are some of the objects on display. One of the finest objects displayed is Suzuki Chokichi's bronze incense burner ( koro ) dated 1875, standing at over 2.25 metres high and 1.25 metres in diameter it is also one of the largest examples made. The museum also holds some cloisonné pieces from the Japanese art production company, Ando Cloisonné . The smaller galleries cover Korea,
1256-460: A frieze, but show large scenes spreading in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre. The ceilings are also painted with sophisticated and elaborate decorative motifs, many derived from sculpture. The paintings in cave 1, which according to Spink was commissioned by Harisena himself, concentrate on those Jataka tales which show previous lives of the Buddha as a king, rather than as
1413-666: A husband and wife painted in watercolour on silk date from the 18th century. There is a unique Chinese lacquerware table , made in the imperial workshops during the reign of the Xuande Emperor in the Ming dynasty . Examples of clothing are also displayed. One of the largest objects is a bed from the mid-17th century. The work of contemporary Chinese designers is also displayed. The Toshiba gallery of Japanese art opened in December 1986. The majority of exhibits date from 1550 to 1900, but one of
1570-724: A late phase through at least most of the Gupta period, having also been a formative influence. Very important rock-cut sites outside the Gupta Empire proper, to the south, are the Ajanta Caves and Elephanta Caves , both mostly created in the Gupta period, and the Ellora Caves which were probably begun around the end of it. As it was mainly restricted to the Gangetic plain , the vast Gupta territories included relatively few rock-cut sites with much sculpture. The later Ajanta style of sculpture
1727-505: A mature form which had probably had a long development, mainly in painting palaces. The Hindu Udayagiri Caves actually record connections with the dynasty and its ministers, and the Dashavatara Temple at Deogarh is a major temple, one of the earliest to survive, with important sculpture, although it has lost its mandapa and covered ambulatory for parikrama . Examples of early North Indian Hindu temples that have survived after
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#17328525065901884-477: A minister of Candragupta II . The famous Iron pillar of Delhi is thought likely to have been originally set up outside the caves. Eran in Madhya Pradesh has a "pillar" or large single column dated 484/5 by an inscription of Buddhagupta , the only standing Gupta example, with two Garuda figures at the top (illustrated below). It had two large Varaha figures outside the ruined Gupta temple. The style of
2041-525: A new medieval gallery on the ground floor (now the shop, opened in 2006). Then the lower ground-floor galleries in the south-west part of the museum were redesigned, opening in 1978 to form the new galleries covering Continental art 1600–1800 (late Renaissance, Baroque through Rococo and neo-Classical). In 1974 the museum had acquired what is now the Henry Cole wing from the Royal College of Science . To adapt
2198-446: A number of different broad models, which would continue to be the case for more than a century after the Gupta period, but temples such as Tigawa and Sanchi Temple 17, which are small but massively built stone prostyle buildings with a sanctuary and a columned porch, show the most common basic plan that is elaborated in later temples to the present day. Both of these have flat roofs over the sanctuary, which would become uncommon by about
2355-482: A partiality to Vishnu, who now features more prominently, where the Kushan imperial family generally had preferred Shiva. Minor figures such as yakshi , which had been very prominent in preceding periods, are now smaller and less frequently represented, and the crowded scenes illustrating Jataka tales of the Buddha's previous lives are rare. When scenes include one of the major figures and other less important ones, there
2512-594: A permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert . The V&A is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , in an area known as " Albertopolis " because of its association with Prince Albert, the Albert Memorial , and the major cultural institutions with which he was associated. These include the Natural History Museum ,
2669-461: A powerful impact; Harle describes the mukhalinga in Cave 4 as "pulsating with psychic power". The most famous is the 7 x 4 metre relief of Vishnu in the form of the giant boar Varaha , raising the earth from the primordial waters, watched by rows of much smaller gods, sages and celestial beings. One cave also has an extremely rare inscription relating a site to the Gupta court, recording the donation of
2826-414: A proper façade. In 1890 the government launched a competition to design new buildings for the museum, with architect Alfred Waterhouse as one of the judges; this would give the museum a new imposing front entrance. The main façade, built from red brick and Portland stone , stretches 720 feet (220 m) along Cromwell Gardens and was designed by Aston Webb after winning a competition in 1891 to extend
2983-534: A range of traditions would bless the statue. During 2015, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery worked with representatives of a number of faith groups from the city on the creation of a new 'Faith Gallery', and the Sultanganj Buddha was moved from its previous location. It is now displayed in a new gallery that tells the story of the range of faiths that are practiced in Birmingham. Gupta art Gupta art
3140-412: A rather lower level of skill) were carried out to complete and perhaps maintain the statue. The sculpture was originally dated to the Gupta period, Vincent Arthur Smith specifying around 400 in a book of 1911. Then dates as late as 800 came to be preferred. The results of the radiocarbon dating suggest 600–650, though the museum still prefers "500–700". E. B. Harris, the railway engineer who discovered
3297-485: A rock concert. The V&A presented a combined concert/lecture by the British progressive folk-rock band Gryphon , who explored the lineage of medieval music and instrumentation and related how those contributed to contemporary music 500 years later. This innovative approach to bringing young people to museums was a hallmark of the directorship of Sir Roy Strong and was subsequently emulated by some other British museums. In
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#17328525065903454-587: A school for children evacuated from Gibraltar . The South Court became a canteen, first for the Royal Air Force and later for Bomb Damage Repair Squads. Before the return of the collections after the war, the Britain Can Make It exhibition was held between September and November 1946, attracting nearly a million-and-a-half visitors. This was organised by the Council of Industrial Design , established by
3611-585: A symbol of the dynasty on many silver coins. Some of these were in the past misidentified as fire altars . The silver coinage of the Guptas was made in imitation of the coinage of the Western Satraps following their overthrow by Chandragupta II, inserting the Gupta peacock symbol on the reverse but retaining traces of the Greek legend and the ruler's portrait on the obverse. Kumaragupta and Skandagupta continued with
3768-491: A temple at Ahichchhatra are 1.47 metres high. The over life-size copper Sultanganj Buddha (2.3 metres tall) is "the only remaining metal statue of any size" from the Gupta period, out of what was at the time probably approximately as numerous a type as stone or stucco statues. There are, however, many much smaller near-identical figures (up to about 50 cm tall), several in American museums. The metal Brahma from Mirpur-Khas
3925-568: A temporary look and were later dismantled and used to build the V&;A Museum of Childhood. The first building to be erected that still forms part of the museum was the Sheepshanks Gallery in 1857 on the eastern side of the garden. Its architect was civil engineer Captain Francis Fowke , Royal Engineers , who was appointed by Cole. The next major expansions were designed by the same architect,
4082-447: A £20 million refurbishment. The V&A's collection of Art from Asia numbers more than 160,000 objects, one of the largest in existence. It has one of the world's most comprehensive and important collections of Chinese art whilst the collection of South Asian Art is the most important in the West. The museum's coverage includes pieces from South and South East Asia, Himalayan kingdoms, China,
4239-515: Is a great difference in scale, with the major figures many times larger. This is also the case in representations of incidents from the Buddha's life, which earlier had showed all the figures on the same scale. The lingam was the central murti in most temples. Some new figures appear, including personifications of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, not yet worshipped, but placed on either side of entrances; these were "the two great rivers encompassing
4396-405: Is also on display. The Far Eastern collections include more than 70,000 works of art from the countries of East Asia: China, Japan and Korea. The T. T. Tsui Gallery of Chinese art opened in 1991, displaying a representative collection of the V&As approximately 16,000 objects from China, dating from the 4th millennium BC to the present day. Though the majority of artworks on display date from
4553-478: Is amongst the finest in the world, many were part of the Salting Bequest of 1909. Examples of tile work from various buildings including a fireplace dated 1731 from Istanbul made of intricately decorated blue and white tiles and turquoise tiles from the exterior of buildings from Samarkand are also displayed. The museum's collections of South and South-East Asian art are the most comprehensive and important in
4710-507: Is an obverse with a portrait of the king that is normally full-length, whether standing, seated or riding a horse, and on the reverse a goddess, most often seated on a throne. Often the king is sacrificing. The choice of images can have political meaning, referring to conquests and local tastes; the types often vary between parts of the empire. Types showing the king hunting and killing various animals: lions (the "lion-slayer" type), tigers and rhinoceros very likely refer to new conquests in
4867-453: Is characterized by its usage of mottled red stone from Karri in the district, and its foreign influences, continuing the traditions of the art of Gandhara and the art of the Kushans. The art of Mathura continued to become more sophisticated during the Gupta Empire. The pink sandstone sculptures of Mathura evolved during the Gupta period to reach a very high fineness of execution and delicacy in
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5024-447: Is continued, though poses, especially in the many standing figures, are subtly tilted and varied, in contrast to the "columnar rigidity" of earlier figures. The detail of facial parts, hair, headgear, jewellery and the haloes behind figures are carved very precisely, giving a pleasing contrast with the emphasis on broad swelling masses in the body. Deities of all the religions are shown in a calm and majestic meditative style; "perhaps it
5181-529: Is displayed, as are carpets from Agra and Lahore . Examples of clothing are also displayed. In 1879–80, the collections of the defunct East India Company 's India Museum were transferred to the V&A and the British Museum. Items in the collection include Tipu's Tiger , an 18th-century automaton created for Tipu Sultan , the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore . The personal wine cup of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
5338-450: Is often considered as the pinnacle of Indian Buddhist art, achieving a beautiful rendering of the Buddhist ideal. Gupta art is also characterized by an expansion of the Buddhist pantheon, with a high importance given to the Buddha himself and to new deities, including Bodhisattvas such as Avalokitesvara or divinities of Bramanical inspiration, and less focus on the events of the life of
5495-479: Is older, but about half the size of the Sultanganj figure. The Jain Akota bronzes and some other finds are much smaller still, probably figures for shrines in well-off homes. The style of the Sultanganj figure, made by lost-wax casting , is comparable to slightly earlier stone Buddha figures from Sarnath in "the smoothly rounded attenuation of body and limbs" and the very thin, clinging body garment, indicated in
5652-644: Is recorded that skill in amateur painting, especially portraits, was considered a desirable accomplishment among Gupta elites, including royalty. Ajanta was ruled by the powerful Vakataka dynasty , beyond the territory of the Gupta Empire, but it is thought to closely reflect the metropolitan Gupta style. The other survivals are from the Bagh Caves , now mostly removed to the Gujari Mahal Archaeological Museum in Gwalior Fort , Ellora, and Cave III of
5809-531: Is so amazingly skilfully placed in relation to the various external entrances ... receives exactly the amount of light necessary to make it look as if it is emerging from a black void, manifestation from the unmanifest". Also from the Mumbai area, the Parel Relief or (Parel Shiva) is an important late Gupta monolithic relief of Shiva in seven forms. The earliest terracottas datable to the Gupta period appear under
5966-422: Is somewhat heavy, but sometimes "awe-inspiring" in the large seated shrine Buddhas, but other smaller figures are often very fine, as is the ornamental carving on columns and door-frames. When combined with the painted walls, the effect can be considered over-decorated, and lacking "motifs on a larger scale to serve as focal points". The main internal carving was probably completed by 478, though votive figures to
6123-473: Is the art of the Gupta Empire , which ruled most of northern India, with its peak between about 300 and 480 CE, surviving in much reduced form until c. 550. The Gupta period is generally regarded as a classic peak and golden age of North Indian art for all the major religious groups. Gupta art is characterized by its "Classical decorum", in contrast to the subsequent Indian medieval art , which "subordinated
6280-547: Is the largest expansion at the museum in over 100 years. It opened on 29 June 2017. In March 2018, it was announced that the Duchess of Cambridge would become the first royal patron of the museum. On 15 September 2018, the first V&A museum outside London, V&A Dundee , opened. The museum, built at a cost of £80.11m, is located on Dundee's waterfront, and is focused on Scottish design, furniture, textiles, fashion, architecture, engineering and digital design. Although it uses
6437-484: Is this all-pervading inwardness that accounts for the unequalled Gupta and post-Gupta ability to communicate higher spiritual states". The long-established Mathura school continued as one of the main two schools of Gupta Empire art, joined by the school of Varanasi and nearby Sarnath . Under the Guptas, Mathura remained primarily a center of Buddhist artistic activity and worship, but a few Hindu, especially Vaishnavite , sculptures started to appear. Mathura sculpture
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6594-545: Is thought to be a weight for an architect's "plummet" or measuring line, now in the British Museum . The gold coinage of the Guptas, with its many types and infinite varieties and its inscriptions in Sanskrit, are regarded as the finest coins in a purely Indian style. The Gupta Empire produced large numbers of gold coins depicting the Gupta kings performing various rituals, as well as silver coins clearly influenced by those of
6751-546: Is yielding to a softer, more delicate and ultimately weaker style". The row of men beneath the sleeping Vishnu have "stylized poses, probably imitated from the theatre". There are also other minor centres of Gupta sculpture, particularly in the areas of Dasapura and Mandasor , where a huge eight-faced mukhalinga (probably early 6th-century) found in the river has been reinstalled in the Pashupatinath Temple, Mandsaur . The Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara continued
6908-577: The Badami cave temples . At Ajanta, it is thought that established teams of painters, used to decorating palaces and temples elsewhere, were brought in when required to decorate a cave. Mural paintings survive from both the earlier and later groups of the caves. Several fragments of murals preserved from the earlier caves (Caves 10 and 11) are effectively unique survivals of ancient painting in India from this period, and "show that by Sātavāhana times, if not earlier,
7065-430: The British Museum . The "first dated sculptures in a fully-fledged early Gupta style" come from the rock-cut Udayagiri Caves and the surrounding area near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. Though the caves, all but one Hindu, are "of negligible importance architecturally", around the cave entrances are a number of rock relief panels, some with large deities. They are in a relatively crude and heavy style, but often with
7222-587: The Heritage Lottery Fund . The Exhibition Road Quarter opened in 2017, with a new entrance providing access for visitors from Exhibition Road . A new courtyard, the Sackler Courtyard, has been created behind the Aston Webb Screen, a colonnade built in 1909 to hide the museum's boilers. The colonnade was kept but the wall in the lower part was removed in the construction to allow public access to
7379-678: The Himalayan kingdoms and South East Asia. Korean displays include green-glazed ceramics, silk embroideries from officials' robes and gleaming boxes inlaid with mother-of-pearl made between 500 AD and 2000. Himalayan works include important early Nepalese bronze sculptures, repoussé work and embroidery. Tibetan art from the 14th to the 19th century is represented by 14th- and 15th-century religious images in wood and bronze, scroll paintings and ritual objects. Art from Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka in gold, silver, bronze, stone, terracotta and ivory represents these rich and complex cultures,
7536-646: The Kushan Empire , adopting its weight standard, techniques and designs, following the conquests of Samudragupta in the northwest. The Guptas even adopted from the Kushans the name of Dinara for their coinage, which ultimately came from the Roman name Denarius aureus . The imagery on Gupta coins was initially derived from Kushan types, but the features soon became more Indian in both style and subject matter compared to earlier dynasties, where Greco-Roman and Persian styles were mostly followed. The usual layout
7693-518: The Mathura style with dhoti and shawl on the left shoulder, coming from Bodh Gaya and dated to "year 64", presumably of the Gupta era , thought to be 384 CE. This type remained a rare occurrence, as in most of the later Gupta statues the Buddha would be shown with the samghati monastic robe covering both shoulders. Coinage too was a relatively late development, also consecutive to Samugragupta's conquest of
7850-572: The Ming and Qing dynasties, there are objects dating from the Tang dynasty and earlier periods, among them a metre-high bronze head of the Buddha dated to about 750 AD, and one of the oldest works, a 2000-year-old jade horse head from a burial. Other sculptures include life-size tomb guardians. Classic examples of Chinese decorative arts on displayt include Chinese lacquer , silk, Chinese porcelain , jade and cloisonné enamel. Two large ancestor portraits of
8007-540: The Mughal Empire and the Maratha Empire , including fine portraits of the emperors and other paintings and drawings, jade wine cups and gold spoons inset with emeralds, diamonds and rubies, also from this period are parts of buildings such as a jaali and pillars. India was a large producer of textiles, from dyed cotton chintz , muslin to rich embroidery work using gold and silver thread, coloured sequins and beads
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#17328525065908164-588: The National Gallery and scholarship at the British Museum . George Wallis (1811–1891), the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection, passionately promoted the idea of wide art education through the museum collections. This led to the transfer to the museum of the School of Design that had been founded in 1837 at Somerset House; after the transfer, it was referred to as the Art School or Art Training School, later to become
8321-478: The Pillars of Ashoka were cylindrical, smooth and finished with the famous Mauryan polish , Gupta pillars had a rough surface often shaped into geometrical facets. Painting was evidently a major art in Gupta times, and the varied paintings of the Ajanta Caves , which are much the best survivals (almost the only ones), show a very mature style and technique, clearly the result of a well-developed tradition. Indeed, it
8478-603: The Punjab and the Arabian sea , continuing and expanding on these earlier artistic traditions and developing a unique Gupta style, rising "to heights of sophistication, elegance and glory". Unlike some other Indian dynasties before and after them, and with the exception of the imagery on their coins, the Gupta imperial family did not advertise their relationship to the art produced under them by inscriptions, let alone portraits that have survived. There are several pieces of statuary from
8635-402: The Royal College of Art which finally achieved full independence in 1949. From the 1860s to the 1880s the scientific collections had been moved from the main museum site to various improvised galleries to the west of Exhibition Road . In 1893 the "Science Museum" had effectively come into existence when a separate director was appointed. Queen Victoria returned to lay the foundation stone of
8792-572: The Science Museum , the Royal Albert Hall and Imperial College London . The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport . As with other national British museums, entrance is free. The V&A covers 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) and 145 galleries. Its collection spans 5,000 years of art, from ancient history to the present day, from
8949-550: The Udayagiri Caves in Madhya Pradesh include those at Tigawa (early 5th century), Pataini temple (5th century), Sanchi Temple 17 (similar, but respectively Hindu and Buddhist), Deogarh, Parvati Temple, Nachna (465), Bhitargaon , the largest Gupta brick temple to survive, and Lakshman Brick Temple, Sirpur (600–625 CE). Gop Temple in Gujarat (c. 550 or later) is an oddity, with no surviving close comparator. There are
9106-528: The Vakataka dynasty who ruled the Deccan c. 250–500. Their region contained very important sites such as the Ajanta Caves and Elephanta Caves , both mostly created in this period, and the Ellora Caves which were probably begun then. Also, although the empire lost its western territories by about 500, the artistic style continued to be used across most of northern India until about 550, and arguably around 650. It
9263-465: The Vedic Ashvamedha horse sacrifice ritual, which the Gupta kings practised; these have the sacrificial horse on the obverse and the queen on the reverse. Samudragupta is shown playing a string instrument, wearing huge earrings, but only a simple dhoti . The only type produced under Chandragupta I shows him and his queen standing side by side. The bird Garuda , bearer of Vishnu, is used as
9420-467: The Western Satraps at the Buddhist site of Devnimori in Gujarat circa 375–400 CE, representing the southern extension of Gandharan influence to the subcontinent, which persisted locally with the sites of Mīrpur Khās , Śāmalājī or Dhānk, a century before this influence would further extend to Ajanta and Sarnath . It has even been suggested that the art of the Western Satraps and Devnimori were at
9577-426: The "Fearless Posture", with his right hand raised in abhayamudra (a gesture of reassurance or protection), and his left hand is held downwards with palm outwards, said to indicate granting a favour. The end of the monastic robe is held between the thumb and forefinger of this hand in the manner that is still practised by Theravadin monks. The surface of the metal is now dark, and "displays over much of its surface
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#17328525065909734-481: The 1980s Strong renamed the museum as "The Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Museum of Art and Design". Strong's successor Elizabeth Esteve-Coll oversaw a turbulent period for the institution in which the museum's curatorial departments were re-structured, leading to public criticism from some staff. Esteve-Coll's attempts to make the V&A more accessible included a criticised marketing campaign emphasising
9891-535: The 1st and the 4th century CE and blended the tradition of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara , influenced by Hellenistic artistic canons, and the more Indian art of Mathura . In Western India, as visible in Devnimori , the Western Satraps (1st–4th century CE) developed a refined art, representing a Western Indian artistic tradition that was anterior to the rise of Gupta art, and which may have influenced not only
10048-485: The 6th century BCE, figures become heavier and tend to be made in metal. This evolution suggests a third school of Gupta art in the area Nalanda and Pataliputra , besides the two main centres of Mathura and Vanarasi. The colossal Sultanganj Buddha in copper from the area of Pataliputra is a uniquely large survival from this school, but typical in style. In the same monastery two similar but much smaller (and slightly later) figures in stone were found, one now on display in
10205-405: The 8th century. The Mahabodhi Temple , Bhitargaon, Deogarh and Gop already all show high superstructures of different shapes. The Chejarla Kapoteswara temple demonstrates that free-standing chaitya -hall temples with barrel roofs continued to be built, probably with many smaller examples in wood. Pillars with inscriptions were erected, recording the main achievements of Gupta rulers. Whereas
10362-551: The Aston Webb building (to the left of the main entrance) on 17 May 1899. It was during this ceremony that the change of name from 'South Kensington Museum' to 'Victoria and Albert Museum' was made public. Queen Victoria's address during the ceremony, as recorded in The London Gazette , ended: "I trust that it will remain for ages a Monument of discerning Liberality and a Source of Refinement and Progress." The exhibition which
10519-689: The Aston Webb building by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra took place on 26 June 1909. In 1914 the construction commenced of the Science Museum , signaling the final split of the science and art collections. In 1939 on the outbreak of the Second World War, most of the collection was sent to a quarry in Wiltshire , to Montacute House in Somerset, or to a tunnel near Aldwych tube station , with larger objects remaining in situ , sand-bagged and bricked in. Between 1941 and 1944 some galleries were used as
10676-521: The British government in 1944 "to promote by all practicable means the improvement of design in the products of British industry". The success of this exhibition led to the planning of the Festival of Britain to be held in 1951. By 1948 most of the collections had been returned to the museum. In July 1973 as part of its outreach programme to young people, the V&A became the first museum in Britain to present
10833-416: The Buddha during excavations that he carried out on ancient remains near the Sultanganj station that he was constructing, published a detailed account of his work, complete with a site plan and photographs. He describes finding the right foot of the Buddha ten feet under the surface, beneath a floor he considered to have been used to conceal the statue after it had been toppled from its former place. Harris sent
10990-413: The Buddha which were abundantly illustrated through Jataka stories in the art of Bharhut and Sanchi (2nd–1st centuries BCE), or in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara (1st–4th centuries CE). The Gupta art of Mathura was very influential throughout northern India, accompanied by a reducing of foreign influences; its style can be seen in Gupta statues to the east in areas as far as Allahabad , with
11147-585: The Far East and the Islamic world. The V&A holds over 19,000 objects from the Islamic world, ranging from the early Islamic period (the 7th century) to the early 20th century. The Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art, opened in 2006, houses a representative display of 400 objects with the highlight being the Ardabil Carpet , the centrepiece of the gallery. The displays in this gallery cover objects from Spain, North Africa,
11304-518: The Great Exhibition of 1851. Henry Cole was the museum's first director, he was also involved in the planning. Initially the V&A was known as the Museum of Manufactures . The first opening to the general public was in May 1852 at Marlborough House . By September the collection had been transferred to Somerset House . At this stage, the collections covered both applied art and science. Several of
11461-519: The Guita Bahī monastery has a copper Buddha about 1.8 metres tall, of Nepali make and style, of about the 9th or 10th century. This remains in place, and in worship, against a wall at the end of a shrine or prayer-hall, and the Sultanganj Buddha was probably originally placed in a similar location. The style of the Sultanganj figure is comparable to slightly earlier stone Buddha figures from Sarnath in "the smoothly rounded attenuation of body and limbs" and
11618-427: The Gupta heartland". The main bodhisattva appear prominently in sculpture for the first time, as in the paintings at Ajanta. Buddhist, Hindu and Jain sculpture all show the same style, and there is a "growing likeness of form" between figures from the different religions, which continued after the Gupta period. The Indian stylistic tradition of representing the body as a series of "smooth, very simplified planes"
11775-420: The Gupta period which are inscribed with a date. They work as a benchmark for the chronology and the evolution of style under the Guptas. These Gupta statues are dated from the Gupta era (which starts in 318–319 CE), and sometimes mention the reigning ruler of that time. Besides statuary, coinage is also an important chronological indicator. Although the Gupta Empire is reckoned to start after King Gupta in
11932-554: The Indian painters had mastered an easy and fluent naturalistic style, dealing with large groups of people in a manner comparable to the reliefs of the Sāñcī toraņa crossbars". Four of the later caves have large and relatively well-preserved mural paintings which "have come to represent Indian mural painting to the non-specialist", and represent "the great glories not only of Gupta but of all Indian art". They fall into two stylistic groups, with
12089-459: The Mankuwar Buddha, dated to the reign of Kumaragupta I in 448. There are a number of "problematical" Buddhist and Jain images from Mathura whose dating is uncertain; many are dated with a low year number, but which era is being used is unclear. These may well come from the early Gupta period . The Varanasi / Sarnath style produced mainly Buddhist art, and "Sarnath Buddhas are probably
12246-625: The Middle East, Central Asia and Afghanistan. A masterpiece of Islamic art is a 10th-century Rock crystal ewer . Many examples of Qur'āns with exquisite calligraphy dating from various periods are on display. A 15th-century minbar from a Cairo mosque with ivory forming complex geometrical patterns inlaid in wood is one of the larger objects on display. Extensive examples of ceramics especially Iznik pottery, glasswork including 14th-century lamps from mosques and metalwork are on display. The collection of Middle Eastern and Persian rugs and carpets
12403-549: The Royal College of Art. These are set in the columned screen wall designed by Aston Webb that forms the façade. A few galleries were redesigned in the 1990s including the Indian, Japanese, Chinese, ironwork, the main glass galleries, and the main silverware gallery, which was further enhanced in 2002 when some of the Victorian decoration was recreated. This included two of the ten columns having their ceramic decoration replaced and
12560-579: The Turner and Vernon galleries built in 1858–1859 to house the eponymous collections (later transferred to the Tate Gallery ) and now used as the picture galleries and tapestry gallery respectively. The North and South Courts were then built, both of which opened by June 1862. They now form the galleries for temporary exhibitions and are directly behind the Sheepshanks Gallery. On the very northern edge of
12717-590: The V&A has the main national collection. The Victoria & Albert Museum is split into four curatorial departments: Decorative Art and Sculpture; Performance, Furniture, Textiles and Fashion; Art, Architecture, Photography and Design; and Asia. The museum curators care for the objects in the collection and provide access to objects that are not currently on display to the public and scholars. The collection departments are further divided into sixteen display areas, whose combined collection numbers over 6.5 million objects, not all objects are displayed or stored at
12874-635: The V&A name, its operation and funding is independent of the V&A. The museum also runs the Young V&;A at Bethnal Green , which reopened on 1 July 2023; it used to run Apsley House , and also the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden . The Theatre Museum is now closed; the V&A Theatre Collections are now displayed within the South Kensington building. Victorian parts of the building have
13031-505: The V&A. There is a repository at Blythe House , West Kensington, as well as annex institutions managed by the V&A, also the museum lends exhibits to other institutions. The following lists each of the collections on display and the number of objects within the collection. The museum has 145 galleries, but given the vast extent of the collections, only a small percentage is ever on display. Many acquisitions have been made possible only with
13188-408: The West comprising nearly 60,000 objects, including about 10,000 textiles and 6,000 paintings, the range of the collection is immense. The Jawaharlal Nehru gallery of Indian art , opened in 1991, contains art from about 500 BC to the 19th century. There is an extensive collection of sculptures, mainly of a religious nature, Hindu , Buddhist and Jain . The gallery is richly endowed with the art of
13345-416: The areas where those animals were still found. They may also reflect influence from Sassanian silverware from Persia. The king standing and holding a bow to one side (the "archer" type) was used by at least eight kings; it may have been intended to associate the king with Rama . Profile heads of the king are used on some silver coins for Western provinces added to the empire. Some gold coins commemorate
13502-571: The assistance of the National Art Collections Fund . In 2004, the V&A alongside Royal Institute of British Architects opened the first permanent gallery in the UK covering the history of architecture with displays using models, photographs, elements from buildings and original drawings. With the opening of the new gallery, the RIBA Drawings and Archives Collection has been transferred to
13659-477: The building as galleries, all the Victorian interiors except for the staircase were recast during the remodelling. To link this to the rest of the museum, a new entrance building was constructed on the site of the former boiler house, the intended site of the Spiral , between 1978 and 1982. This building is of concrete and very functional, the only embellishment being the iron gates by Christopher Hay and Douglas Coyne of
13816-458: The café over the collection. In 2001 the museum embarked on a major £150m renovation programme, called the "FuturePlan". The plan involves redesigning all the galleries and public facilities in the museum that have yet to be remodelled. This is to ensure that the exhibits are better displayed, more information is available, access for visitors is improved, and the museum can meet modern expectations for museum facilities. A planned Spiral building
13973-535: The collection includes parts of buildings, for example, the two top stories of the facade of Sir Paul Pindar 's house dated c. 1600 from Bishopsgate with elaborately carved woodwork and leaded windows, a rare survivor of the Great Fire of London , there is a brick portal from a London house of the English Restoration period and a fireplace from the gallery of Northumberland house. European examples include
14130-992: The collection. The RIBA's holdings of over 330 drawings by Andrea Palladio are the largest in the world; other Europeans well represented are Jacques Gentilhatre and Antonio Visentini . British architects whose drawings, and in some cases models of their buildings, in the collection, include: Inigo Jones , Sir Christopher Wren , Sir John Vanbrugh , Nicholas Hawksmoor , William Kent , James Gibbs , Robert Adam , Sir William Chambers , James Wyatt , Henry Holland , John Nash , Sir John Soane , Sir Charles Barry , Charles Robert Cockerell , Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin , Sir George Gilbert Scott , John Loughborough Pearson , George Edmund Street , Richard Norman Shaw , Alfred Waterhouse, Sir Edwin Lutyens , Charles Rennie Mackintosh , Charles Holden , Frank Hoar , Lord Richard Rogers , Lord Norman Foster , Sir Nicholas Grimshaw , Zaha Hadid and Alick Horsnell . As well as period rooms ,
14287-411: The courtyard. The new 1,200-square meter courtyard is the world's first all-porcelain courtyard, which is covered with 11,000 handmade porcelain tiles in fifteen different linear patterns glazed in different tone. A pavilion of Modernist design with glass walls and an angular roof covered with 4,300 tiles is located at the corner and contains a cafe. Skylights on the courtyard provide natural light for
14444-460: The cultures of Europe , North America , Asia and North Africa . However, the art of antiquity in most areas is not collected. The holdings of ceramics , glass, textiles, costumes , silver, ironwork , jewellery, furniture, medieval objects, sculpture, prints and printmaking , drawings and photographs are among the largest and most comprehensive in the world. The museum owns the world's largest collection of post- classical sculpture, with
14601-605: The death of Captain Francis Fowke of the Royal Engineers, the next architect to work at the museum was Colonel (later Major General) Henry Young Darracott Scott , also of the Royal Engineers. He designed to the northwest of the garden the five-storey School for Naval Architects (also known as the science schools), now the Henry Cole Wing, in 1867–72. Scott's assistant J. W. Wild designed the impressive staircase that rises
14758-542: The design for the range of buildings on the north and west sides of the garden. This includes the refreshment rooms, reinstated as the Museum Café in 2006, with the silver gallery above (at the time the ceramics gallery); the top floor has a splendid lecture theatre, although this is seldom open to the general public. The ceramic staircase in the northwest corner of this range of buildings was designed by F. W. Moody and has architectural details of moulded and coloured pottery. All
14915-462: The displays span the 6th to 19th centuries. Refined Hindu and Buddhist sculptures reflect the influence of India; items on the show include betel-nut cutters, ivory combs and bronze palanquin hooks. The museum houses the National Art Library , a public library containing over 750,000 books, photographs, drawings, paintings, and prints. It is one of the world's largest libraries dedicated to
15072-410: The earlier Western Satraps by Chandragupta II . Gupta coinage only started with the reign of Samudragupta (335/350-375 CE), or possibly at the end of the reign of his father Chandragupta I , for whom only one coin type in his name is known ("Chandragupta I and his queen"), probably a commemorative issue minted by his son. The coinage of the Gupta Empire was initially derived from the coinage of
15229-462: The elaborate painted designs restored on the ceiling. As part of the 2006 renovation the mosaic floors in the sculpture gallery were restored—most of the Victorian floors were covered in linoleum after the Second World War. After the success of the British Galleries, opened in 2001, it was decided to embark on a major redesign of all the galleries in the museum; this is known as "FuturePlan", and
15386-450: The enhancements to the main entrance and rotunda, the new shop, the tunnel and the sculpture galleries. Gareth Hoskins was responsible for contemporary and architecture, Softroom, Islamic Middle East and the Members' Room, McInnes Usher McKnight Architects (MUMA) were responsible for the new Cafe and designed the new Medieval and Renaissance galleries which opened in 2009. The central garden
15543-542: The exhibits from the opening Exhibition were purchased by the museum to form the kernel of the V&A collection. By February 1854 discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site and the museum was renamed South Kensington Museum . In 1855 the German architect Gottfried Semper , at the request of Cole, produced a design for the museum, but it was rejected by the Board of Trade as too expensive. The current site
15700-475: The façade of the museum were caused by fragments from the bombs. In the immediate post-war years, there was little money available for other than essential repairs. The 1950s and early 1960s saw little in the way of building work; the first major work was the creation of new storage space for books in the Art Library in 1966 and 1967. This involved flooring over Aston Webb's main hall to form the book stacks, with
15857-507: The figure to the larger religious purpose". Although painting was evidently widespread, the surviving works are almost all religious sculpture. The period saw the emergence of the iconic carved stone deity in Hindu art, while the production of the Buddha-figure and Jain tirthankara figures continued to expand, the latter often on a very large scale. The traditional main centre of sculpture
16014-401: The figure's air of insolent triumph". Both are dated to the late fifth century. The surviving sanctuary of the early 6th-century Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh has a typically fine doorway, and large relief panels on the other three walls. These are now external, but would originally gave given on to the covered ambulatory. Though "majestic", these show "the sturdiness of early Gupta sculpture
16171-665: The foreign influences seen in Mathura. Folds on clothing have disappeared, and the clothing itself is extremely thin, to the point of being transparent. The halo has become large and is often elaborately decorated. The top edge of the eye-socket is very marked, forming a sharply carved edge. The Sarnath style was the origin of Buddha images in Siam , Cambodia and Java . Gupta sculptural qualities tend to deteriorate with time, as in Nalanda in Bihar in
16328-510: The full height of the building. Made from Cadeby stone, the steps are 7 feet (2.1 m) in length, while the balustrades and columns are Portland stone. It is now used to jointly house the prints and architectural drawings of the V&A (prints, drawings, paintings and photographs) and Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA Drawings and Archives Collections), and the Sackler Centre for arts education, which opened in 2008. Continuing
16485-523: The galleries as originally designed were white with restrained classical detail and mouldings, very much in contrast to the elaborate decoration of the Victorian galleries, although much of this decoration was removed in the early 20th century. The museum survived the Second World War with only minor bomb damage. The worst loss was the Victorian stained glass on the Ceramics Staircase, which was blown in when bombs fell nearby; pockmarks still visible on
16642-533: The gallery via stairs with lacquered tulipwood balustrades. The collecting areas of the museum are not easy to summarize, having evolved partly through attempts to avoid too much overlap with other national museums in London. Generally, the classical world of the West and the Ancient Near East is left to the British Museum, and Western paintings to the National Gallery , though there are all sorts of exceptions—for example, painted portrait miniatures , where
16799-407: The garden, built in 1877–1883. The exterior mosaic panels in the parapet were designed by Reuben Townroe, who also designed the plaster work in the library. Sir John Taylor designed the bookshelves and cases. This was the first part of the museum to have electric lighting. This completed the northern half of the site, creating a quadrangle with the garden at its centre, but left the museum without
16956-416: The greatest single achievement of the Indian sculptor", largely setting the representation of the Buddha that was followed in eastern India and South-East Asia for many centuries, and the general representation of the human body in India. A number of dated examples show that the mature style did not develop until 450–475. It is characterized by its yellowish sandstone from the quarries of Chunar , and lacks
17113-416: The hair, achieved by intensive polishing after casting, reflecting references in early Buddhist scriptures to the radiance and colour of the Buddha's body. Other Buddha images were gilded . The sheer size of the statue meant that "the workshop which was in charge of casting the ‘Sultanganj Buddha’ worked at the limit of its technical capabilities", and various stages of repairs and a "secondary casting" (at
17270-559: The holdings of Italian Renaissance sculpture being the largest outside Italy. The departments of Asia include art from South Asia, China, Japan, Korea and the Islamic world . The East Asian collections are among the best in Europe, with particular strengths in ceramics and metalwork , while the Islamic collection is amongst the largest in the Western world. Overall, it is one of the largest museums in
17427-411: The late 3rd century CE, the earliest known and dated sculptures of Gupta art come relatively late, about a century later, after the conquest of northwestern India under Samudragupta . Among the earliest is an inscribed pillar recording the installation of two Shiva Lingas in Mathura in 380 CE under Chandragupta II , Samudragupta's successor. Another rare example is a statue of a seated Bodhisattva in
17584-579: The latter, but also the art of the Ajanta Caves , Sarnath and other places from the 5th century onward. In central India, the art of the Satavahanas had already created a rich Indian artistic idiom, as visible in Sanchi , which also influenced Gupta art. With the conquests of Samudragupta (r.c. 335/350-375 CE) and Chandragupta II (r.c. 380 – c. 415 CE), the Gupta Empire came to incorporate vast portions of central, northern and northwestern India, as far as
17741-463: The lightest of ways. The figure has "a feeling of animation imparted by the unbalanced stance and the movement suggested by the sweeping silhouette of the enveloping robe". Survivals of decorated secular metalwork are very rare, but a silver plate in the Cleveland Museum of Art shows a crowded festival scene in rather worn relief . There is also a highly decorated object in bronzed iron that
17898-609: The main arch above the twin entrances, and Queen Victoria above the frame around the arches and entrance, sculpted by Alfred Drury . These façades surround four levels of galleries. Other areas designed by Webb include the Entrance Hall and Rotunda, the East and West Halls, the areas occupied by the shop and Asian Galleries, and the Costume Gallery. The interior makes much use of marble in the entrance hall and flanking staircases, although
18055-471: The main architecture gallery. In June 2022, the RIBA announced it would be terminating its 20-year partnership with the V&A in 2027, "by mutual agreement", ending the permanent architecture gallery at the museum. Artefacts will be transferred back to the RIBA's existing collections, with some rehoused at the institute's headquarters at 66 Portland Place building, set to become a new House of Architecture following
18212-473: The main entrance has an open work crown surmounted by a statue of fame, a feature of late Gothic architecture and a feature common in Scotland, but the detail is Classical. The main windows to the galleries are also mullioned and transomed, again a Gothic feature; the top row of windows are interspersed with statues of many of the British artists whose work is displayed in the museum. Prince Albert appears within
18369-449: The modeling, displaying calm and serenity. The style become elegant and refined, with a very delicate rendering of the draping and a sort of radiance reinforced by the usage of pink sandstone. Artistic details tend to be less realistic, as seen in the symbolic shell-like curls used to render the hairstyle of the Buddha, and the orante halos around the head of the Buddhas. The art of the Gupta
18526-621: The most famous in Caves 16 and 17, and what used to thought of as later paintings in Caves 1 and 2. However, the widely accepted new chronology proposed by Spink places both groups in the 5th century, probably before 478. The paintings are in "dry fresco ", painted on top of a dry plaster surface rather than into wet plaster. All the paintings appear to be the work of painters supported by discriminating connoisseurship and sophisticated patrons from an urban atmosphere. Unlike much Indian mural painting, compositions are not laid out in horizontal bands like
18683-453: The most part the Gupta period represented a hiatus in Indian rock-cut architecture , with the first wave of construction finishing before the empire was assembled, and the second wave beginning in the late 5th century, just as it was ending. This is the case, for example, at the Ajanta Caves , with an early group made by 220 CE at the latest, and a later one probably all after about 460. Instead,
18840-620: The museum organised to celebrate the centennial of the 1899 renaming, A Grand Design , first toured in North America from 1997 ( Baltimore Museum of Art , Museum of Fine Arts, Boston , Royal Ontario Museum , Toronto, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco ), returning to London in 1999. To accompany and support the exhibition, the museum published a book, Grand Design , which it has made available for reading online on its website. The opening ceremony for
18997-511: The museum's annual contemporary design showcase, the V&;A Village Fete , since 2005. In 2011 the V&A announced that London-based practice AL A had won an international competition to construct a gallery beneath a new entrance courtyard on Exhibition Road. Planning for the scheme was granted in 2012. It replaced the proposed extension designed by Daniel Libeskind with Cecil Balmond but abandoned in 2004 after failing to receive funding from
19154-554: The museum, architecture, V&A and RIBA reading rooms and stores, metalware, Members' Room, contemporary glass, and the Gilbert Bayes sculpture gallery; in 2005: portrait miniatures, prints and drawings, displays in Room 117, the garden, sacred silver and stained glass; in 2006: Central Hall Shop, Islamic Middle East, the new café, and sculpture galleries. Several designers and architects have been involved in this work. Eva Jiřičná designed
19311-443: The museum, joining the already extensive collection held by the V&A. With over 600,000 drawings, over 750,000 papers and paraphernalia, and over 700,000 photographs from around the world, together they form the world's most comprehensive architectural resource. Not only are all the major British architects of the last four hundred years represented, but many European (especially Italian) and American architects' drawings are held in
19468-461: The museum. Construction took place between 1899 and 1909. Stylistically it is a strange hybrid: although much of the detail belongs to the Renaissance , there are medieval influences at work. The main entrance, consisting of a series of shallow arches supported by slender columns and niches with twin doors separated by the pier, is Romanesque in form but Classical in detail. Likewise, the tower above
19625-452: The neck. Three main schools of Gupta sculpture are often recognised, based in Mathura , Varanasi /Sarnath and to a lesser extent Nalanda . The distinctively different stones used for sculptures exported from the main centres described below aids identification greatly. Both Buddhist and Hindu sculpture concentrate on large, often near life-size, figures of the major deities, respectively Buddha , Vishnu and Shiva . The dynasty had
19782-448: The northwest. The Gupta coinage was initially in imitation of the Kushan types. The Gupta style of statuary, especially as seen in the Buddha images, is characterized by several formative traits: ornate halos with floral and gem motifs, clothes with thin diaphanous drapery, specific hair curls, meditative eyes, elongated earlobes, relatively thick lower lips, and often three lines across
19939-622: The old type of coins (the Garuda and the Peacock types) and also introduced some other new types. The copper coinage was mostly confined to the era of Chandragupta II and was more original in design. Eight out of the nine types known to have been struck by him have a figure of Garuda and the name of the king on it. The gradual deterioration in design and execution of the gold coins and the disappearance of silver money, bear ample evidence to their curtailed territory. For reasons that are not entirely clear, for
20096-484: The oldest pieces displayed is the 13th-century sculpture of Amida Nyorai. Examples of classic Japanese armour from the mid-19th century, steel sword blades ( Katana ), Inrō , lacquerware including the Mazarin Chest dated c1640 is one of the finest surviving pieces from Kyoto , porcelain including Imari , Netsuke , woodblock prints including the work of Andō Hiroshige , graphic works include printed books, as well as
20253-526: The origin of Gupta material culture, but this remains a subject of debate. The Gupta period saw the production of many sculptures in terracotta of very fine quality, and they are similar in style across the empire, to an even greater extent than the stone sculpture. Some can still be seen in their original settings on the brick temple at Bhitargaon , where the large relief panels have almost worn away, but various heads and figures survive at higher levels. The very elegant pair of river goddesses excavated from
20410-522: The other in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco . A stone Buddha head, also from Sultanganj, is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum , London. From 1998 to 2015, the Buddha was the centrepiece of a gallery at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery dedicated to displaying a number of Buddhas and related artefacts, and Birmingham Museum held an annual 'Buddha Day', when West Midlands-based Buddhist groups from
20567-423: The period has left almost the first surviving free-standing structures in India, in particular the beginnings of Hindu temple architecture . As Milo Beach puts it: "Under the Guptas, India was quick to join the rest of the medieval world in a passion for housing precious objects in stylized architectural frameworks", the "precious objects" being primarily the icons of gods. The most famous remaining monuments in
20724-399: The planters and the water feature may be illuminated, and the surrounding façades lit to reveal details normally in shadow. Especially noticeable are the mosaics in the loggia of the north façade. In summer a café is set up in the southwest corner. The garden is also used for temporary exhibits of sculpture; for example, a sculpture by Jeff Koons was shown in 2006. It has also played host to
20881-485: The range of the museum's collections. Godfrey Sykes also designed the terracotta embellishments and the mosaic in the pediment of the North Façade commemorating the Great Exhibition, the profits from which helped to fund the museum. This is flanked by terracotta statue groups by Percival Ball . This building replaced Brompton Park House, which could then be demolished to make way for the south range. The interiors of
21038-428: The sculpture gallery. The north, east and west sides have herbaceous borders along the museum walls with paths in front which continues along the south façade. In the two corners by the north façade, there is planted an American Sweetgum tree. The southern, eastern and western edges of the lawns have glass planters which contain orange and lemon trees in summer, which are replaced by bay trees in winter. At night both
21195-443: The sculpture is somewhat provincial. Still at the site is a huge and impressive boar on four legs, with no human characteristics, its body covered with rows of small figures representing the sages who clung to the hairs of Varaha to save themselves from the waters. Now moved to the university museum at Sagar is a figure with the same body and pose as that at Udayagiri, "one of the greatest of all Indian sculptures ... nothing can match
21352-476: The sides of many cave entrances may be later. The Ajanta style is only seen at a few other sites nearby. After work ended there much of the skilled workforce, or their descendants, probably ended up working at Elephanta and then Ellora. Unlike the series of caves side by side at Ajanta, the main interest at Elephanta is the largest cave, a huge Shiva temple, and above all the colossal triple- bust ( trimurti ) of Shiva, 18 feet (5.5 m) tall, which "because it
21509-634: The site is situated the Secretariat Wing; also built in 1862, this houses the offices and boardroom, etc. and is not open to the public. An ambitious scheme of decoration was developed for these new areas: a series of mosaic figures depicting famous European artists of the Medieval and Renaissance period. These have now been removed to other areas of the museum. Also started were a series of frescoes by Lord Leighton : Industrial Arts as Applied to War 1878–1880 and Industrial Arts Applied to Peace , which
21666-408: The sole survival from what was evidently a large and sophisticated body of painting, and the very fine coinage the main survivals in metalwork. Gupta India produced both textiles and jewellery, which are only known from representations in sculpture and especially the paintings at Ajanta. Gupta art was preceded by Kushan art , the art of the Kushan Empire in northern India, which flourished between
21823-487: The stairwell and the exhibition space located below the courtyard created by digging 15m into the ground. The Sainsbury Gallery's column-less space at 1,100 square metres is one of the largest in the country, providing space for temporary exhibitions. The gallery can be assessed through the existing Western Range building where a new entrance to the Blavatnik Hall and the museum has been created, and visitors can descend into
21980-534: The statue to Birmingham, the cost of its transport to England being paid by Samuel Thornton, a Birmingham manufacturer of ironmongery. Thornton, himself a former mayor of Birmingham, offered it to the Borough Council for their proposed Art Museum in 1864. In Birmingham, a town that boasted a thousand trades, the Art Museum was intended to be an exemplar and inspiration for local metalworkers and other artisans. Over
22137-422: The style of the earlier buildings, various designers were responsible for the decoration. The terracotta embellishments were again the work of Godfrey Sykes, although sgraffito was used to decorate the east side of the building designed by F. W. Moody. A final embellishment was the wrought iron gates made as late as 1885 designed by Starkie Gardner. These lead to a passage through the building. Scott also designed
22294-502: The three refreshment rooms were assigned to different designers. The Green Dining Room (1866–68) was the work of Philip Webb and William Morris , and displays Elizabethan influences. The lower part of the walls is paneled in wood with a band of paintings depicting fruit and the occasional figure, with moulded plaster foliage on the main part of the wall and a plaster frieze around the decorated ceiling and stained-glass windows by Edward Burne-Jones . The Centre Refreshment Room (1865–77)
22451-404: The two Cast Courts (1870–73) to the southeast of the garden (the site of the "Brompton Boilers"); these vast spaces have ceilings 70 feet (21 m) in height to accommodate the plaster casts of parts of famous buildings, including Trajan's Column (in two separate pieces). The final part of the museum designed by Scott was the Art Library and what is now the sculpture gallery on the south side of
22608-438: The very thin, clinging body garment, indicated in the lightest of ways. The figure has "a feeling of animation imparted by the unbalanced stance and the movement suggested by the sweeping silhouette of the enveloping robe". The Sultanganj Buddha was cast in pure, unrefined copper by the cire perdue , or lost wax , technique. Inside there is a clay body, mixed with rice husks that allowed radiocarbon dating . The figure stands in
22765-572: The work on the north range was designed and built in 1864–69. The style adopted for this part of the museum was Italian Renaissance ; much use was made of terracotta , brick and mosaic. This north façade was intended as the main entrance to the museum, with its bronze doors, designed by James Gamble and Reuben Townroe [ Wikidata ] , having six panels, depicting Humphry Davy (chemistry); Isaac Newton (astronomy); James Watt (mechanics); Bramante (architecture); Michelangelo (sculpture); and Titian (painting); The panels thus represent
22922-602: The world. Since 2001 the museum has embarked on a major £150m renovation programme. The new European galleries for the 17th century and the 18th century were opened on 9 December 2015. These restored the original Aston Webb interiors and host the European collections 1600–1815. The Young V&A in east London is a branch of the museum, and a new branch in London – V&A East – is being planned. The first V&A museum outside London, V&A Dundee opened on 15 September 2018. The Victoria and Albert Museum has its origins in
23079-421: The years, it has been shown in a number of prominent locations throughout Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) and remains an indispensable display item. It was the foundation donation to the collections and is BMAG's most treasured possession. Harris's report shows him with the Buddha and a number of smaller finds. They included two much smaller standing Buddhas in stone: one is now in the British Museum and
23236-501: Was Mathura , which continued to flourish, with the art of Gandhara , the centre of Greco-Buddhist art just beyond the northern border of Gupta territory, continuing to exert influence. Other centres emerged during the period, especially at Sarnath . Both Mathura and Sarnath exported sculpture to other parts of northern India. It is customary to include under "Gupta art" works from areas in north and central India that were not actually under Gupta control, in particular art produced under
23393-616: Was abandoned; in its place a new Exhibition Road Quarter designed by Amanda Levete 's AL_A was created. It features a new entrance on Exhibition Road , a porcelain-tiled courtyard (inaugurated in 2017 as the Sackler Courtyard and renamed the Exhibition Road Courtyard in 2022) and a new 1,100-square-metre underground gallery space (the Sainsbury Gallery) accessed through the Blavatnik Hall. The Exhibition Road Quarter project provided 6,400 square metres of extra space, which
23550-486: Was created in consultation with the exhibition designers and masterplanners Metaphor . The plan is expected to take about ten years and was started in 2002. To date several galleries have been redesigned, notably, in 2002: the main Silver Gallery, Contemporary; in 2003: Photography, the main entrance, The Painting Galleries; in 2004: the tunnel to the subway leading to South Kensington tube station , new signage throughout
23707-424: Was designed by Sir Edward Poynter ; the lower part of its walls consist of blue and white tiles with various figures and foliage enclosed by wood panelling, while above there are large tiled scenes with figures depicting the four seasons and the twelve months, painted by ladies from the Art School then based in the museum. The windows are also stained glass; there is an elaborate cast-iron grill still in place. With
23864-488: Was designed in a Renaissance style by James Gamble. The walls and even the Ionic columns in this room are covered in decorative and moulded ceramic tile, the ceiling consists of elaborate designs on enamelled metal sheets and matching stained-glass windows, and the marble fireplace was designed and sculpted by Alfred Stevens and was removed from Dorchester House prior to that building's demolition in 1929. The Grill Room (1876–81)
24021-442: Was introduced "to ascertain practically what hours are most convenient to the working classes". To raise interest for the museum among the target audience , the museum exhibited its collections on both applied art and science. The museum aimed to provide educational resources and thus boost the productive industry. In these early years the practical use of the collection was very much emphasised as opposed to that of " High Art " at
24178-426: Was occupied by Brompton Park House, which was extended in 1857 to include the first refreshment rooms. The V&A was the first museum in the world to provide researchers and guests a catering service. The official opening by Queen Victoria was on 20 June 1857. In the following year, late-night openings were introduced, made possible by the use of gas lighting . In the words of museum director Cole gas lighting
24335-508: Was redesigned by Kim Wilkie and opened as the John Madejski Garden on 5 July 2005. The design is a subtle blend of the traditional and modern: the layout is formal; there is an elliptical water feature lined in stone with steps around the edge which may be drained to use the area for receptions, gatherings or exhibition purposes. This is in front of the bronze doors leading to the refreshment rooms. A central path flanked by lawns leads to
24492-459: Was started but never finished. To the east of this were additional galleries, the decoration of which was the work of another designer, Owen Jones ; these were the Oriental Courts (covering India, China and Japan), completed in 1863. None of this decoration survives. Part of these galleries became the new galleries covering the 19th century, opened in December 2006. The last work by Fowke was
24649-447: Was then followed by the "Post-Gupta" period, with (to a reducing extent over time) many similar characteristics; Harle ends this around 950. In general the style was very consistent across the empire and the other kingdoms where it was used. The vast majority of surviving works are religious sculpture, mostly in stone with some in metal or terracotta , and architecture, mostly in stone with some in brick. The Ajanta Caves are virtually
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