Watercolour over pencil heightened with
bodycolour on buff paper
27 by 36.7 cm., 10 5/8 by 14 1/2 inches
Provenance:
Private collection, UK, until 2011
Engraved:
Lithographed by Day & Son for Recollections of the Great Exhibition 1851
and published by Lloyd Bros, 1st September 1851
The Great Exhibition of 1851, under the
patronage of Prince Albert, took place at Hyde Park in a building that became
known as the 'Crystal Palace'. This
revolutionary glass and iron building was designed by Joseph Paxton and Charles
Fox. With a committee overseeing its
construction that included Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it went from a plan to the
grand opening in just nine months. The exhibition was a showcase to display the
wonders of industry and manufacturing from around the modern world. It included over 13,000 exhibits and was
extremely popular, attracting more than six million visitors - equivalent to a
third of the population of Great Britain at the time. The profits from the
exhibition helped fund the construction of the Victoria and Albert and Science
Museums in South Kensington.
This watercolour of the main Transept
from the South Gallery was used as a template for one of the twenty-five hand
coloured lithographs created by Day & Son for a book published in 1851 by
Lloyds Brothers & Co, 'Recollections
of the Great Exhibition 1851'.