- Title:
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the launching chains of the Great Eastern
- Object name(s):
- Photograph
- Brief description:
- Photograph
- Collection:
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Associated concept:
- Photographs
- Associated concept:
- Portraits
- Associated concept:
- Transport
- Content - concept:
- chain
- Content - person:
- Brunel, Isambard Kingdom
- Credit line:
- Purchased, 1979.
- Current reproduction location:
- https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HF8976/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg
- Location type:
- Thumbnail
- Dimension:
- Height
- Dimension measurement unit:
- mm
- Dimension value:
- 590
- Dimension:
- Height
- Dimension measurement unit:
- mm
- Dimension value:
- 287
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measurement unit:
- mm
- Dimension value:
- 232
- Object name:
- Photograph
- Object number:
- PH.246-1979
- Object production date:
- 1857
- Date - association:
- made
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1857-01-01
- Date - latest:
- 1857-12-31
- Object production person:
- Howlett, Robert
- Person's association:
- photographer
- Object production place:
- Great Britain
- Place association:
- made
- Physical description:
- Photograph
- Reproduction number:
- 2014HF8976
- Reproduction number:
- 2006AV5969
- Reproduction number:
- 2006AM7049
- Responsible department/section:
- PDP
- Style:
- 19th
- Technique:
- photography
- Technique:
- Albumen print from wet collodion on glass negative
- Text reason:
- Collections online record
- Text:
- This famous portrait was taken as part of a series of photographs by Robert Howlett that documents the construction of the massive steamship The Great Eastern on the banks of the Thames. It is a powerful image in which the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), who was the ship’s creator, projects all the confidence and ambition of the Victorian era. Howlett portrays Brunel in his ‘stove-pipe’ hat and stacked-heel boots to give him height and presence. His formal clothes are dishevelled and muddied from the site. The backdrop is dominated by the chains of the stern checking drum. This controlled the slow slide of the ship down to the water’s edge, where it was launched by being lifted on the tide.
- Text reason:
- Summary description
- Text:
- Gallery 100, ‘History of photography’, 2011-2012, label text : Robert Howlett (1830-58) Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Launching Chains of ‘The Great Eastern’ 1857 This portrait is part of a series of photographs documenting the construction of the massive steamship The Great Eastern on the banks of the River Thames. It is a powerful image in which Brunel (1806–59), the ship’s creator, projects the confidence and ambition of the Victorian era. Albumen print Museum no. Ph.246-1979
- Text date:
- 07 03 2014
- Text reason:
- Gallery label text
- User's reference:
- Reference:
- Hoozee, Robert (ed.), British Vision. Observation and Imagination in British Art 1750-1950, Brussels : Mercatorfonds ; Ghent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 2007
- User's reference:
- Reference details:
- 27
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/580f814d-1437-30e3-8aa5-11a0dcf1b7d9
Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/580f814d-1437-30e3-8aa5-11a0dcf1b7d9, Victoria and Albert Museum, CC BY-NC
Is there a problem with this record? Give feedback.