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Description: | Pencil and watercolour on paper. The Great Exhibition opened on 1 May 1851 and was intended to present the latest and most dazzling technological achievements in the UK since the start of the Industrial Revolution. This watercolour shows the inside of the grandiose glass structure in Hyde Park which housed the exhibition.
The Great Exhibition was held in Crystal Palace, a vast glass structure designed by Joseph Paxton. It was based on the conservatory at Chatsworth Palace and constructed using a million feet of glass. Paxton incorporated trees within the building and a series of magnificent fountains. The huge light-filled structure was divided into a series of courts, with displays representing the history of art and architecture from ancient Egypt to the Renaissance, and including exhibits from the natural world and from industry.
This watercolour was engraved and reproduced in the ‘Illustrated London News’ on 19 July 1851. The watercolour remained in the possession of the artist and was sold, along with a similar watercolour showing the exhibition (GAC 13906), after the death of two of his descendants, a ‘Miss M. & Miss B. Duncan’. | Subjects: | topography park woman carpet industry crowd Great Exhibition man balcony | Temporal: | 1851 | Source: | Government Art Collection | Creator: | Edward Duncan | Identifier: | http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?... | Go to resource |
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