Crick Smith
The Cast Courts: Victoria and Albert Museum
The Cast Courts at the Victoria and Albert Museum opened in 1873 to house i's impressive collection of architectural and sculptural plaster casts, many of which were originally created for the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Originally decorated in olive green and a reddish purple, there were also stencilled decorations showing the names of artists and cities important in the history of art.
Repainted several times over the next 100 years this original decoration was los,t and the V&A are now investigating re-instating this original scheme as part of their on-going plan to improve the decoration and interpretation of the Cast Courts.
The aim of this research exercise was to identify the nature, detail and current condition of the original decorative schemes within the Cast Court galleries. Crick Smith took over 200 paint samples from the Cast Courts, and by analysing cross-sections of these samples were able to identify where the original stencil patterns remain.
Based on this evidence, they could then undertake the process of uncovering areas of this decoration. Following on from this research, the V & A were then able to make informed decisions on how to interpret these original features in the future.
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