Olivia Horsfall Turner, Senior Curator, Architecture and Design, writes: The V&A is delighted to have acquired an archive of 700 design drawings for metalwork, furniture and stained glass by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812–1852) relating to his collaboration with Hardman & Co., Birmingham.
Born in London, Pugin was one of the most significant architects, designers and theorists in the history of British design and architecture. His ideas underpinned the 19th-century Gothic Revival and paved the way for the Arts and Crafts movement in Europe and America. Pugin’s influence remains strong today in both urban and rural landscapes, through his buildings and interiors and his lasting impact on design.
These drawings date from the late 1830s until 1851 and are almost all working design drawings in Pugin’s hand, many dated and signed by him, ranging from initial sketches in pen and ink to finished designs coloured in watercolour. From 1838, Pugin worked closely with manufacturer John Hardman junior of Birmingham firm Hardman & Co., who become Pugin’s closest friend and colleague, sharing an enthusiasm for the medieval style.
The objects represented in the archive include altar crosses, patens and chalices, screens, communion rails, candlesticks, candelabra, lamps, and memorial brasses, as well as railings, gates, window and door furniture, sugar casters, jardinières, clocks, fire baskets, and an iron bench. Numerous high-profile projects feature: public commissions such as notable designs for the Palace of Westminster and the Great Exhibition of 1851; ecclesiastical projects including St Giles’ Cheadle, Ely Cathedral, St Mary’s Clapham, and Ushaw Seminary; and private houses including Alton Towers and Chirk Castle.
The drawings have a striking immediacy, highlighting Pugin’s accomplished drawing technique and facility for design, as well as documenting in tremendous detail the close collaborative relationship between him and his manufacturer. They are visually compelling and the presentation drawings - some of which are rendered in coloured wash - are certainly of Pugin’s highest quality. As working drawings, they embody valuable information about Pugin’s design and thought process and bear testimony to the function of design drawings within manufacturing.
The drawings are closely connected with the UK’s history and national life, owing to the contribution that Pugin made to shaping the national aesthetic of the 19th-century Gothic Revival, the legacy of which still surrounds us today, as well as representing items produced for domestic use.
The acquisition of this archive will complement the V&A’s existing collection of over 1,100 designs by Pugin, and will provide the public with access to works of major significance to the study of Pugin and 19th-century British architecture and design. We will fully catalogue the drawings and make them available on our free online searchable database, Explore the Collections. In the longer term, a display at the V&A will showcase the range and breadth of Pugin’s work and the connection between design and manufacture.
The V&A is very grateful to The Friends of the Nations’ Libraries, the Art Fund, The Rick Mather David Scrase Foundation, and The John R. Murray Charitable Trust, with additional support from Bonhams, for making this acquisition possible.
