V&A Museum, London

On my visit to London in December I visited for the first time the Victoria and Albert Museum. The building itself is very impressive There is a rich collection of mainly European art and there is a collection of items made by medieval and early modern silversmiths that is really impressive. The photos I've offered, however, are of something else. It was difficult for London art students in the nineteenth century to actually travel to places around Europe where great large scale examples of art existed. So, the V&A created life-size identical models of the items for students to sketch and model. Many of the items are replicas of Roman or cathedrals in Germany or France. The size of the models is striking as one walks through the exhibit.