Photographs made in the 1870s are to help with the conservation of the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry. In a new partnership London's V&A Museum and the City of Bayeux have agreed to share research and expertise around the Tapestry. This is in lieu of planned loan of the Tapestry to the UK which was abandoned after a condition report discovered the Tapestry in a worse condition that expected.
As part of a research, conservation and digitisation project, around 180 glass negatives of the tapestry taken by Edward Dossetter, which are in the V&A’s collection are to be digitised and will form part of a digital database showing the Tapestry's state when it was restored at the end of the nineteenth century. Dossetter photographed the tapestry in 1872 under the instruction of photographer Joseph Cundall as part of the first collaboration between the V&A (then the South Kensington Museum) and the City of Bayeux.
Six full-size copies were made from Dossetter’s negatives by the Arundel Society. These were then coloured by hand to create the longest composite photograph made in the 19th century. The partnership will also provide the City of Bayeux access to the two Arundel Society copies of the Bayeux Tapestry in the V&A collection, as well as opportunities for research, curatorial and scientific exchange.
See more: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/05/19/digitising-bayeux-tapestry-victoria-and-albert-museum-work-with-french-city-research-famous-medieval-work
https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/caring-for-our-collections/photographing-bayeux
Photographs: V&A Museum. Below: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O118318/bayeux-tapestry-photograph-cundall-co/bayeux-tapestry-photograph-cundall--co/
Comments