Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Medieval & Renaissance 300-1600
To visit the V&A's outstanding
Medieval & Renaissance
galleries chronologically, head for
the lower level galleries (Level 0, room 8-10c), where the highlights include the
Gloucester Candlestick
, a mass of gilded foliage and figures commissioned for the city's
Benedictine abbey around 1104, and the
Becket Casket
, a Romanesque reliquary in
Limoges enamel designed to house the English saint's relics. Don't miss the German
altarpiece, painted around 1400 and decorated with 45 vivid scenes from the Apocalypse.
The collection continues into the Renaissance upstairs (Level 2, rooms 62-64b),
where you'll find the
Burghley Nef
, a slightly ludicrous sixteenth-century French gilded
silver salt cellar in the shape of a ship. Even more incredible craftsmanship is on view in
the Italian carved pearwood altarpiece, which features a complex crucifixion scene.
Other highlights include a Tintoretto self-portrait, one of Leonardo's tiny notebooks
and Donatello's
Chellini Madonna
, a bronze roundel given by the artist to his doctor in
lieu of payment - the reverse was designed to cast replicas in glass, and a bronze of the
good doctor stands close by.
The galleries to the right of the information desk (Level 1, rooms 50a-50d) display
the large-scale
Renaissance sculptures
such as Giambologna's expressively brutal
Samson
Slaying a Philistine
. Passing through the immense marble and alabaster choirscreen
from 's-Hertogenbosch cathedral, you'll find a series of full-scale altarpieces and an
entire Florentine chapel, plus a new ambulatory-cum-treasury of monstrances,
fold-away croziers, crosses and chalices.
18
British Galleries 1500-1760
The superbly designed
British Galleries
are a joy to visit. The first series of rooms covers
Britain 1500-1760
(Level 2, rooms 52-58b), and begins in room 58 with Tudor times.
Highlights include Torrigiani's bust of Henry VII, Holbein's miniature of Anne of
Cleves, with its original ivory case, and the
Howard Grace Cup
, a medieval ivory cup
associated with Thomas Becket, but given a Tudor silver-gilt makeover and crowned by
a tiny St George and the dragon. Other specific items to look out for include the
Dark
Jewel
given to Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth I, the tapestries embroidered by
Mary, Queen of Scots
during her incarceration, James II's wonderfully camp wedding
suit and the amazing high-relief lime-wood
Stoning of St Stephen
by Grinling Gibbons.
The galleries also contain a number of
period interiors
saved in their entirety from
buildings that have since been demolished. These include a Jacobean panelled room
from Bromley-by-Bow, a Georgian parlour from Henrietta Street in Covent Garden
and a heavily gilded Rococo
Norfolk House Music Room
from St James's Square (where
concerts are held on occasional Fridays at 6.30pm). Towards the end, you should pass
Roubiliac's marble statue of
Handel
, carved in 1738 and the first statue in Europe of a
living artist. It originally stood in the then-fashionable Vauxhall Gardens in south
London, and caused a great stir in its day, with the composer depicted as Apollo
slouching in inspired disarray, one shoe dangling from his foot.
British Galleries 1760-1900
Upstairs,
Britain 1760-1900
(Level 4, rooms 118-125) kicks off with a Chippendale
four-poster made for the actor David Garrick, paintings by Gainsborough and
Constable and Canova's
hree Graces
. Again, period interiors are a big feature of the
collection: Adam's Venetian-red Glass Drawing Room from Northumberland House
and the fan-vaulted Strawberry Room from Lee Priory in Kent, which was inspired by
Walpole's Gothic Revival masterpiece in Twickenham, Strawberry Hill. You'll also find
plenty of outpourings from the
Arts and Crafts movement
, starting with a cabinet
painted with medieval scenes by William Morris, inspired by Walter Scott's novels.
Other highlights to look out for include
La Belle Iseult
, Morris's only known painting
(of his future wife), and a whole room on the Scottish School, including several tables
and chairs from Glasgow tearooms designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
