General View of the Interior, from "Recollections of the Great Exhibition, 1851"

General View of the Interior, from "Recollections of the Great Exhibition, 1851"

John Absolon

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

At the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, held in London in 1851, displays of art and manufacture were shown at the Crystal Palace, a specially-built glass and iron building in Hyde park designed by Joseph Paxton. Between May and October more than six million visitors flocked to view thousands of objects organized by theme and place of origin at the first world’s fair. This lithograph records an expansive view of the central transept, whose high roof arches over established elm trees. A fountain that served as a meeting point is surrounded by statues and royal portraits, with adjacent courts displaying objects from Persia, India, China and Switzerland. Publishers Lloyd Brothers teamed with lithographers Day & Son to create the hand-colored set to which the print belongs, the whole offering well-to-do visitors a detailed and beautifully produced souvenir.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

General View of the Interior, from "Recollections of the Great Exhibition, 1851"General View of the Interior, from "Recollections of the Great Exhibition, 1851"General View of the Interior, from "Recollections of the Great Exhibition, 1851"General View of the Interior, from "Recollections of the Great Exhibition, 1851"General View of the Interior, from "Recollections of the Great Exhibition, 1851"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.