SOLDA pair of doors from the Natural History Museum, London,
Framed (ref: 607)
Mahogany with ebonised banding, and turned brass fittings, 95 x 34 in. (241.3 x 86.3cm.)
SOLDMahogany with ebonised banding, and turned brass fittings, 95 x 34 in. (241.3 x 86.3cm.)
Provenance: Natural History Museum 1881-1981; Haslam and Whiteway 1981; The Fine Art Society, 1982
Literature: Mark Girouard, Waterhouse and The Natural History Museum, London 1981; The Fine Art Society, London,spring 1995 catalogue, repr. p.29
Waterhouse's Natural History Museum, his magnum opus in a progressive neo-Romanesque style,was designed in 1868 and opened in 1881. A hundred years after it opened, during a refurbishment that followed those of the 1970s, the few remaining original fittings that had survived the earlier refurbishments fell victim to ever more stringent Health and Safety legislation. It is ironic that Mark Girouard's 1981 publication Waterhouse and The Natural History Museum includes photographs of the doors in situ with the caption: 'One of the top-lit galleries in the north-east area at the rear of the Museum, as it is today. It is one of the few galleries which retains its original fittings.'
We are grateful to Michael Barker, Andrew Mckintosh Patrick, Peyton Skipwith and Michael Whiteway for assistance.
