18th October 2013
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819-1861) became the British prince consort when he married Queen Victoria in 1840. On of his many projects was to oversee the organisation of an exhibition by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce to celebrate and promote British industry.
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (known as the Crystal Palace Exhibition) took place between May to October 1851. During the course of the planning of the exhibition, the Prince was impressed by the work of Sir Henry Cole, who later was given the task of organising a number of important institutions, such as the museum which became the V & A. In 1865-7 William Morris’s new company was employed to carry out extensive decorative work at St James Palace and, in 1866, Cole appointed William Morris’s company to decorate the Green Room at the museum now known as The V & A.
Posted in William Morris by Laura