Victoria and Albert Museum – London
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has its origins in the Museum of Manifacturers, which opened in 1852.
In 1854, it was renamed the South Kensington Museum and in 1857 it was officially opened to public by Queen Victoria.
In the meantime, the collection was expanded, emphasizing the practical use of preserved artifacts, as opposed to the academic art of the National Gallery and the encyclopedic collections of the British Museum.
In 1899, the name was finally changed to the current one, Victoria and Albert Museum, in honor of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert; the name change, together with the end of the nineteenth century, were celebrated with a large exhibition.
Nowadays the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum is vast, and contains 2.3 million objects; while remaining one of the most important museums in the world regarding the applied and the so-called “minor” arts, currently the collection also preserves sculptures, fashion, textiles, ceramics, jewelry, and especially paintings from all over the world: the gallery houses the largest collection in the world of Italian Renaissance paintings.
Info
Victoria and Albert Museum
Link: www.vam.ac.uk
Perugino’s masterpieces preserved here:
Madonna with Child and Saints Jerome and Francis (Madonna di Loreto) – on loan from the National Gallery
