{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O235347"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O235347/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CH9526/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CH9526/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CH9526","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AN9451","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O235347/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O235347","accessionNumber":"72507","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Kensington Museum, Eastern Cast Court","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Sir Henry Cole, the visionary first director of the Museum, saw early on the potential of photography to dramatically extend the visual range of resources available to artists and students.  In 1856 he appointed Charles Thurston Thompson as ‘Official Museum Photographer’ and the ‘first museum photographic service’ came into being.\n\nPhotographs such as these were originally collected by the National Art Library as part of a programme to record works of art, architecture and design in the interest of public education, these photographs were valued as records and as source material for students of architecture and design.  As well as being crucial records of the history of the V&amp;A, and an important element within the National Art Library's visual encyclopaedia, these photographs are also significant artefacts in the history of the art of photography.\r\n\r\nWith the sudden death of Thurston Thompson in 1868, his sister, Isabel Agnes Cowper, assumed his position, possibility the first woman to hold such a role.  Little is known about  Cowper, but in her letter of resignation in 1891, she refers to herself as the  Museum's 'Official Photographer.  Cowper held the post for twenty-three years retiring in 1891.   According to census records, as early as 1871, Cowper, a young widow, lived in the Museum residences assigned to staff with her three young children.  \n\nWith maternal responsibilities, and subject to the social restrictions applied to woman in the nineteenth century, Cowper's freedom to travel was limited.  As such, unlike Thurston Thompson, whose duties included travelling abroad documenting great works of art and architecture on dedicated photographic campaigns, the majority of Cowper’s work involved documenting objects in the museum collection and loans on display.  This is just one of the thousands of Museum objects Cowper photographed in her role as ‘Official Museum Photographer’.","physicalDescription":"A photograph of the interior of an exhibition space in the midst of construction with skylit ceiling.  There is a large carved structure ornamented with elephants.  In the background, workers are visible on platforms suspended from a balustraded gallery 3/4 up on the far wall.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cowper, Isabel Agnes","id":"A11378"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Department of Science and Art of the Committee of Council on Education","id":"AUTH320544"},"association":{"text":"commissioned by","id":"x28662"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"albumen process","id":"AAT133274"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"albumen photograph","categories":[{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"},{"text":"History of the V&A","id":"THES252692"},{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Plaster Cast","id":"THES270451"}],"styles":[{"text":"documentary","id":"x37881"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2009CH9526","2006AN9451"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"71","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"South Kensington Museum","id":"x32782"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1872","earliest":"1867-01-01","latest":"1876-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"27","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"25","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"33","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"board","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"27","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"board","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Isabel Agnes Cowper, South Kensington Museum, Eastern Cast Court, albumen print, ca. 1872","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"South Kensington Museum","id":"x32782"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"museums","id":"AAT5768"},{"text":"carvings","id":"AAT47203"},{"text":"elephants","id":"x30316"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Cast Courts Reinstallation, 27 November 2018\n\n15.\n<b>'Interior of New Court. Akbar Khan’s Throne, etc.'</b>\r\nIsabel Agnes Cowper, 1872\r\n\r\nThe courts originally contained non-European casts as well as European ones, including, as shown here, an ancient gateway to a Buddhist shrine in India, known as the Sanchi Tope. The Museum transferred this cast to the India Museum and in the 1950s it was destroyed. This period after the Second World War saw the Museum undergoing huge change.  The cast had been on display since the courts were opened.  In this image you can see workmen high up on scaffolding painting the decorative frieze around the wall.\n\nREPRODUCED FROM\nAlbumen print\nSouth Kensington, London\nMuseum no. 72507\r\n","date":{"text":"27 November 2018","earliest":"2018-11-27","latest":"2018-11-27"}}],"partNumbers":["72507"],"accessionNumberNum":"72507","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-14","recordCreationDate":"2009-05-22","availableToBook":false}}