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Description: | Colour lithograph. The vast iron and glass structure of the Crystal Palace is shown here beneath a blue sky. Visitors to the ‘Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations’, held within the Crystal Palace from 1 May to 15 October 1851, are gathered in Hyde Park outside the famous building.
When the building first opened in 1851, numerous prints of the structure were published and sold as souvenirs to the many visitors to the exhibition. Most of these follow much the same format as this version, showing the building from the northeast, with a similar contemporary crowd scene in the foreground.
After the exhibition closed, the Crystal Palace structure was moved to Sydenham Hill, south east London, and impressive gardens with elaborate water fountains were created around it. The structure was destroyed by fire on 30 November 1936 and today little sign of the Palace remains. However, in the area now known as Crystal Palace Park, the sculpted dinosaurs, commissioned as a feature of the gardens, survive and were restored in 2002. | Subjects: | genre park military uniform 19th century costume horse rest/sleep horseback flag girl topography tree smoking dress woman parasol top hat dog townscape/cityscape Great Exhibition crowd boy man | Temporal: | c1851; 1850/1855 | Source: | Government Art Collection | Creator: | William Gauci (Lithographer) | Identifier: | http://www.gac.culture.gov.uk/work.aspx?... | Go to resource |
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