Victoria and Albert Museum: David's Fig Leaf
Why is it significant?
Walk along the grand front of the Victoria and Albert Museum and look at the statues lined up in their niches: painters, sculptors, architects and craftsmen of Britain, standing guard over one of the greatest collections of art and design on earth.
Key Facts
| Place | Victoria and Albert Museum: David's Fig Leaf |
|---|---|
| Address | Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL, United Kingdom |
| Geo Coordinates | 51.49670, -0.17180 |
| Part of Walk | Albertopolis: Prince Albert's London of Museums, Music and Science |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk along the grand front of the Victoria and Albert Museum and look at the statues lined up in their niches: painters, sculptors, architects and craftsmen of Britain, standing guard over one of the greatest collections of art and design on earth. Above the main entrance, Albert and Victoria themselves keep watch.
It began in 1852 as a Museum of Manufactures, funded by the Great Exhibition and meant to improve British design. In 1857 it moved here as the South Kensington Museum, run by the tireless Henry Cole, and it pioneered things we now take for granted. It was among the first museums to open in the evening, lit by gas, so that working people could visit after their shifts, and it opened what are usually described as the world's first museum refreshment rooms, decorated by, among others, the young firm of William Morris.
In 1899 Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of this facade by Aston Webb, in one of her last great public ceremonies, and renamed the museum for herself and her long-dead husband. She did not live to see it finished; it opened in 1909. Inside, do not miss the Cast Courts, plaster copies of Europe's great monuments made so that students who could not travel could still study them. Trajan's Column is there, sawn into two pieces, because it is too tall for the roof.
And there is Michelangelo's David, a full-size cast presented to Queen Victoria in 1857 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The story goes that the Queen was so startled by his nakedness that a plaster fig leaf was made, to be hung in place whenever royal ladies came to visit. The fig leaf survives, displayed in its own little case on the back of the plinth.
Before you move on, step round the corner onto Exhibition Road and look at the stone wall of the museum. It is pitted and scarred, and an inscription explains why: the damage was done by bombs during the Blitz, and was left unrepaired as a memorial. Then return to Cromwell Road and keep heading east. Next door, almost touching the museum, stands an Italian Baroque church with a surprising Cold War rumour.