Kalighat painting
Discover a unique collection of Indian paintings from the 19th century
Paintings
The V&A Paintings collection includes British and European oil and watercolour paintings as well as over 2,000 miniatures, for which the Museum holds the national collection. Highlights include the Raphael Cartoons and major works by J. M. W. Turner and John Constable.
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The Paintings collection was an original part of the Museum of Ornamental Art, later re-named the Victoria and Albert Museum, which opened at South Kensington in June 1857. In that year John Sheepshanks offered the Museum his collection of around 500 modern British oil paintings, watercolours and drawings to found a 'National Gallery of British Art'. He preferred the 'open and airy situation' of South Kensington to the polluted atmosphere of central London, and believed in the importance of making art accessible to the public. The first of his galleries opened in 1857 and is the earliest surviving part of the V&A.
Collection highlights
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Sour orange, watercolour, by Vincenzo Leonardi, about 1640, Rome, Italy -
Young Man among Roses, portrait miniature, by Nicholas Hilliard, about 1587, England -
Disappointed Love, oil painting, by Francis Danby, 1821, England -
Lion: A Newfoundland Dog, oil painting, by Edwin Henry Landseer, 1824, Britain -
Full-Scale Study for The Hay Wain, oil painting, by John Constable, about 1821, Britain -
Raphael Cartoon, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (Luke 5: 1 – 11), cartoon for a tapestry, by Raphael, about 1515 – 16, Italy. Museum number: ROYAL LOANS.2.
Features
Portrait of a Lady known as Smeralda Bandinelli
Discover how Botticelli's gazing lady ended up at the V&A
Conservation of Pentecost by Sandro Botticelli
The challenges of preparing a 500 year old fragile masterpiece to go on display
Preparing a Bollywood poster for stretching: ASMR
Step inside the Painting Conservation Studio to see this enormous hand-painted poster be prepared for display
Rabindranath Tagore: Poet and Painter
Simple bold forms and a rhythmic quality
Framing Botticelli
V&A Senior Conservator Zoe Allen explores a range of beautifully carved and gilded frames from the exhibition Botticelli Reimagined
The ‘Dan Brown effect’: Venus-mania from the Olympians to the Expressionists
Having worked for so long on Botticelli Reimagined, could Mark Evans be experiencing Venusian fever?
Botticelli’s influence
Terry Gilliam, ORLAN, Tomoko and David La Chapelle discuss the influence that Botticelli has had on their work
A walk through Botticelli’s Florence
Mark Evans, curator of Botticelli Reimagined, explores where the artist was born, lived and died
Botticelli and pulp fiction
Mark Evans, Curator of Botticelli Reimagined discusses the impact of The Birth of Venus on popular culture
The conservation of Flowers in a Glass Vase by Jacob van Walscapelle (1667)
Find out how our conservation team have transformed this important and beautiful oil painting through a major treatment programme
The South Court and Leighton Frescos
Tucked away in the V&A are two surviving masterpieces of Victorian mural painting
An unusual bloom in the Forest of Sherwood
When eagle-eyed conservator, Nicola Costaras, noticed that a large oil painting depicting Sherwood Forest after rainfall was covered in 'frost', a series of investigations and conservation work was kick-started.
Francis Williams – a portrait of a writer
Explore the portrait of scholar and writer Francis Williams
Conserving an 18th-century portrait and waistcoat
Follow the conservation of two uniquely connected objects – a rare double acquisition for the museum
The puzzle of portraits: Francis Williams and Vanley Burke
Explore two important portraits separated by three centuries
