Furniture at the V&A

[RobNichols]

I had a chance yesterday to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum. I only had a little over an hour before the museum closed, but I really enjoyed the chance to look round.

I started in the 1600-1815 Gallery in the basement. There was some lovely furniture there. I particularly liked a dressing table dated 1760-70. I like the delicate work and the combination of curves. I think the carpentry was straightforward, but the delicate proportions, and use of curves raised it up a level. Then the marquetry added more to the design.

What I particularly liked was the way the marquetry extended beyond the draws which gave the impression the draws were more complicated (curved) than they were.

 

[RobNichols]

I then went up to the furniture hall on the top floor. It is not a huge hall but there is a lot of interesting items to see.

A small chest caught my eye. The sides where dovetailed, but the top edge was mitred. To achieve this, the top dovetail peg was mitred. It was neatly done. An old chest that was expertly built

 

[RobNichols]

I was particularly interested in the chairs as I am currently building my first stick chair.

I like the delicacy and simple lines of this chair.

And the clean lines of this design

 

[RobNichols]

It was interesting to look around some of the pieces. This one for example that look spectacular from the front

But around the back you can see that in a time of hand tools, craftsmen didn't waste effort on making the unseen faces pretty

 

[RobNichols]

This is just a small selection of the pieces I saw on my short visit. So many interesting furniture pieces to see at the V&A in almost all of the galleries. I'd highly recommend a visit.

 

[Richard_C]

This is just a small selection of the pieces I saw on my short visit. So many interesting furniture pieces to see at the V&A in almost all of the galleries. I'd highly recommend a visit.

Yes, an excellent place to visit.

But if you can't, you can go to their website, vam.ac.uk, from the menu select collections and either scroll or search and start applying filters. As long as you tick "with images" you can while away hours. Hundreds, probably thousands, of furniture images. I often look at the ceramics collection for "shapes" for woodturning ideas.

Not quite the same as being there, but close.

Another thing I chanced on a few years back was to look beyond the main subject in pictures in galleries. Dutch Master bowl of fruit, look at the table its on. Seated portrait, look at the chair. All sorts. Museums and galleries are a rich source, and almost always free. A bit more niche, Kettles Yard website, take the virtual tour or search collections. It seems as if most museums and galleries are putting more and more online.

Google arts and culture, free resource with global collections. So much to see it can be hard to navigate but if you have a smart tv with a Web browser you can have a Mondrian in your living room.