A COMO guide to our favourite things to look out for on your next visit to one of London's finest museums.
While the museum is predominantly known for its fashion history and blockbuster exhibitions (this season’s include the long-awaited Cartier and The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence), it’s also home to one of the world’s finest permanent collections of art, statuary, jewellery and objets d’art.
Cast Courts
The Cast Courts house a collection of 19th-century plaster casts of iconic sculptures and architectural masterpieces including ornate cathedral doorways and intricate tombs. One of the highlights is a copy of the 2nd-century Trajan’s Column (the original stands at the centre of Rome’s Roman Forum), acquired by the museum in the 1860s. The 35-metre column has been split in two — partly so it fits indoors, but also so visitors can see the artistry up-close.
The spiral frieze is extraordinary, depicting over 2,600 figures across 155 scenes illustrating the Roman army’s campaigns. Other casts worth seeking out include Michelangelo’s David, capturing every detail of the original. Queen Victoria is said to have been so shocked by his nudity that a fig-leaf was crafted to be hung over David’s anatomy during any visit by the Queen or her royal ladies. That fig-leaf is now displayed in a case on the back of the statue’s pedestal.
Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Tipu’s Tiger
Tipu’s Tiger is a rather grisly object — but a fascinating one. It’s an 18th-century near-life-sized wooden semi-automaton, which features a tiger mauling a European soldier. Hidden in the tiger’s body is an organ, which prior to the tiger’s display at the museum, would be operated using the handle next to it.
When cranked, the tiger growls, the soldier cries out in his death throes, and his hand moves up and down in futile objection. Commissioned in the 1790s by Tipu Sultan of Mysore, the tiger symbolised Tipu’s resistance against British colonialism. Tipu kept the tiger in the music room of his palace until his death (at the hands of the British East India Company’s army), after which it was shipped to London. Tipu’s Tiger was originally displayed in the British East India Company’s Indian museum, before being transferred to the V&A.
Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Raphael Cartoons
The Raphael Cartoons are a series of large-scale, detailed designs created by Renaissance giant, Raphael, for tapestries commissioned for the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. Completed around 1515, these vibrant works depict scenes from the Acts of the Apostles, including ‘The Healing of the Lame Man’ and ‘The Miraculous Draught of Fishes’. Today, seven of these cartoons — considered among the greatest treasures of the Italian Renaissance — are on display at the V&A, after significant restoration.
Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Great Bed of Ware
One of the V&A’s odder objects is the four-poster Great Bed of Ware, originally made around 1590. It’s colossal, standing at over three metres wide (with room for up to eight people), and was initially made as a curiosity for an inn in Hertfordshire. To commemorate a night’s stay in the bed, guests would carve their initials into the wood, or apply red wax seals, which are still visible today.
The bed was so large it gained a reputation — even getting a mention in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, in which Sir Toby Belch references a sheet of paper “big enough for the Bed of Ware!” Bawdy comedy aside, the bed is also an Elizabethan masterpiece, with intricate carvings including coats of arms, mythical creatures and romantic motifs.
Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Queen Victoria's Sapphire and Diamond Coronet
This striking coronet was designed for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1840, the year they were married. It’s neoclassical in style, crafted in gold and features a row of cushion-cut sapphires framed by brilliant-cut diamonds. The coronet became a personal favourite of the Queen, which she wore instead of her crown when she opened Parliament for the first time after Prince Albert’s death in 1861.
It’s one of many treasures in the V&A’s Jewellery Galleries, which is replete with 19th-century ornamental sprays of diamonds, intricate snuff boxes, Iron Age gold, and contemporary masterpieces (Cindy Chao’s 2018 ruby and diamond peony brooch is particularly luscious). It’s worth noting that the V&A’s Jewellery Galleries are also markedly less busy than the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London.
Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Located in South Kensington, the V&A is within a 15-minute taxi ride of COMO Metropolitan London on Park Lane, and COMO The Halkin in Belgravia. Please contact our concierge for help booking tickets to one of the V&A’s exhibitions.
