{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1068836"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1068836/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JX3512/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JX3512/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017JX3512","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1068836","accessionNumber":"P.27-1932","objectType":"Tempera painting","titles":[{"title":"Cartoon for 'India'","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This painting is a cartoon for one of a series of panels originally intended to decorate the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords. Known as the ‘British Empire Panels’, they are the work of Sir Frank Brangwyn, one of the foremost artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Brangwyn’s commission, begun in 1924, was to create a decorative scheme which would commemorate the peers and the relatives of peers who died during the First World War. The artist initially began work on designs representing the beginning and end of the war, but quickly decided that a less gloomy way to memorialise the fallen was to celebrate the wealth and beauty of the Empire for which they died. This painting is the cartoon for what became three large panels intended to represent India. It depicts a profusion of birds, animals, plants and people thought to be representative of the Indian sub-continent. The final panels were considered to colourful for permanent display in the House of Lords and were eventually acquired by Swansea Council. This cartoon was given to the Museum by the artist in 1932.","physicalDescription":"Cartoon for 'India' from the 'British Empire Series', one of 16 panels commissioned for the Royal Gallery at the House of Lords, emblematic of the British Empire. Roughly one third the size of the final panel, which is divided in to three. Squared for transfer.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Brangwyn, Frank (Sir)","id":"A1888"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"tempera","id":"AAT15062"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Tempera ","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[{"text":"Early 20th century","id":"x35955"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2017JX3512"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"A001","id":"THES384089"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"tempera","id":"AAT15062"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1926","earliest":"1926-01-01","latest":"1926-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the Artist","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"5.125","unit":"ft","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"11.5","unit":"ft","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"135","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"08/09/2020","earliest":"2020-09-08","latest":"2020-09-08"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Sight measurement","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Given by the Artist in 1932\r\n\r\nThe final decorative panels were not placed in position in the House of Lords and were eventually acquired by Swansea Council. They are now displayed in Brangwyn Hall, Swansea. All sixteen panels were reproduced in colour in a book by Frank Rutter of 1933 entitled 'The British Empire Panels Designed for the House of Lords by Frank Brangwyn, R A'.","historicalContext":"This painting is a cartoon for one of a series of panels originally intended to decorate the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords. Known as the ‘British Empire Panels’, they are the work of Sir Frank Brangwyn, one of the foremost artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Brangwyn’s commission, begun in 1924, was to create a decorative scheme which would commemorate the peers and the relatives of peers who died during the First World War. The artist initially began work on designs representing the beginning and end of the war, but quickly decided that a less gloomy way to memorialise the fallen was to celebrate the wealth and beauty of the Empire for which they died. Brangwyn had travelled extensively during his life and had brought back from these travels sketchbooks filled with drawings of the plants, animals and people he had seen. He does not appear to have approached the subject of Empire in a literal way and the geographic origins of the birds, animals and plants in each panel are not entirely accurate. Instead Brangwyn focused of depicting a profusion of exotic animals, strange plants and representations of indigenous people. This painting is the cartoon for what became three large panels intended to represent India. \r\n\r\nBy 1930, five panels were completed and were installed in the Royal Gallery for inspection by the Royal Fine Art Commission. Though the Commission praised the panels for their merits as art, they were deemed top colourful and lively to be used as permanent decoration in the Royal Gallery. This was a bitter disappointment to Brangwyn, who considered the panels the culmination of his life’s work. The son of his original patron, Lord Iveagh, agreed to honour the commission and Brangwyn completed the scheme in 1932. He gave this panel to the V&amp;A in the same year – he had studied at the South Kensington Art Schools from 1875 and while apprenticed to William Morris between 1882 and 1884, had been encouraged to study the Raphael cartoons in the Museum. The remaining panels were eventually acquired 1933 by Swansea Council to decorate the new Guildhall. \r\n\r\n","briefDescription":"Painting, Cartoon for 'India' from the 'British Empire Series', one of 16 panels commissioned for the decoration of the Royal Gallery at the House of Lords, by Frank Brangwyn, Great Britain, 1926","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1932. </u> London: HMSO, 1933."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Rutter, F. <u>The British Empire Panels Designed for the House of Lords by Frank Brangwyn</u>, RA; London, 1933 "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bell, D., <u>The British Empire Panels of Frank Brangwyn, R A and preparatory drawings and studies in the Guildhall, Swansea</u>; Swansea, 1958"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Design","id":"THES48872"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"House of Lords","id":"x35911"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"empire","id":"x46648"},{"text":"decoration","id":"x35972"},{"text":"panel","id":"AAT178675"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.27-1932"],"accessionNumberNum":"27","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1932,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-15","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}