{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1154589"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1154589/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EK1002/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EK1002/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EK1002","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1154589/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1154589","accessionNumber":"S.2568-1986","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"The Destruction of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, by fire on 5th March 1856","type":"published title"}],"summaryDescription":"This lithograph is one of two published by Read & Co. in March 1856 depicting the scene during the fire at Covent Garden Theatre on Wednesday 5th March 1856, and the ruins afterwards. \n\nDuring 1856 the proprietors of Covent Garden leased the theatre to the showman magician Professor John Henry Anderson (1814-1874) who produced a so-called 'Carnival Benefit' there on Monday 3rd March consisting of the farce <i>The Great Gun Trick</i>, the opera <i>La Sonnambula</i>, the drama <i>Time Tries All</i>,  the 'squib' <i>What Does He Want</i>?, the melodrama<i> Gilderoy</i> and the pantomime <i>Ye Belle Alliance; or, Harlequin and the Field of the Cloth of Gold, </i>performed by cast members from Covent Garden, Drury Lane and the Strand theatres. The performances were to last all Monday afternoon and evening, the extravazanza to end in with a grand Masked Ball on Tuesday 4th March. It is said that the proprietor Gye had put a veto on the Masked Ball and only let it go ahead because of the losses that Anderson had incurred on his 6-week season there.\n\nThe Bal-Masqué was an all-night affair and the fire was reported to have been discovered at five to five in the morning when the last bars of <i>God Save the Queen</i> were being played. By 5.30am the roof had fallen in, and hopes of saving anything substantial from the flames had been abandoned. The caption on this print confirms the details: 'On Wednesday March 5, 1856; discovered just at the conclusion of a Bal Masqué given by Professor Anderson, when the Company, rushing to the doors made their escape, and fled into the neighbouring streets for means of conveyance to their respective residences, the grotesqueness of their dresses contrasting strangely with the scene which the neighbourhood presented from so fearful a calamity ocurring at that hour (6 o'clock) of the morning. The loss of property by this sad event is estimated at upward of £250,000.","physicalDescription":"Lithographed print depicting the destruction of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. Print is glued to a piece of textile. Print glued to a paper mount on top of a piece of cloth.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Read & Co.","id":"A24535"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"x32600"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"glue or paste","id":"x37641"},{"text":"textile","id":"x41581"},{"text":"coloured ink","id":"AAT126356"}],"techniques":[{"text":"lithograph","id":"x39981"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"paper, printing ink, glue or paste, textile, coloured ink","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2010EK1002"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES343884"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"prints","id":"AAT41273"}],[{"text":"lithographs","id":"AAT41379"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"8th March 1856","earliest":"1856-03-08","latest":"1856-03-08"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.2569-1986","id":"O1154594"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.187-2020","id":"O1551360"},"association":"Object"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"44.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Print size","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"56.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Print size","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Lithograph depicting the destruction of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, by fire on 5th March 1856. Published on 8th March 1856 by Read & Co., Johnson Court, Fleet St., London","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Theatre Royal, Drury Lane","id":"x45049"}],"associatedPlaces":[{"text":"Theatre Royal, Drury Lane","id":"x45049"}],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Fires","id":"AAT68986"},{"text":"Firefighting","id":"AAT24795"},{"text":"","id":""},{"text":"Firefighting equipment","id":"AAT24795"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.2568-1986"],"accessionNumberNum":"2568","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1986,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2010-02-09","availableToBook":false}}