Advanced Search
Image Not Available

Piano

Image Not Available

Piano

Designer: Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (British, 1812-1852)
Manufacturer: (Instrument Fitters) Burns & Lambert
Manufacturer: (Case maker) J. G. Crace
Date: 1851
Dimensions:
H: 65 1/2 in. (166.4 cm); W: 53 in. (134.6 cm); Depth: 29 3/4 in. (75.6 cm)
Medium: Carved oak case, instrument fittings, brass candle arms
Classification: Furniture
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. George M. Jones, Jr. Fund
Object number: 1995.1
Label Text:
The Victorian architect and designer Augustus Welby Pugin is often referred to as the “father of the Gothic Revival.” He is best known for his collaboration with Charles Barry on the 1835 design of the Houses of Parliament in London, considered a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture. Pugin popularized an updated, romanticized version of medieval design, helping to establish it as the national style in Victorian Britain.

This piano, with its carved oak Gothic motifs and tracery, is probably one of two Pugin-designed pianos displayed in the Medieval Court at London’s Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, the first World’s Fair (the nearby silver wine flagon was also exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition). The pianos demonstrated that Gothic design could be successfully applied to modern forms of furniture.

On view
In Collection(s)