Author Description

The Victoria and Albert Museum's collection of oil paintings is less well known than its encyclopaedic holdings of sculpture and applied arts, watercolours, miniatures and other works on paper. However, the museum has also acquired oil paintings since its foundation, and currently has over 2,500 works in this medium. The Victoria and Albert Museum initially collected and displayed oil paintings to tell the story of British art and provide exemplary material for designers: it continues to do so to elucidate the history of art and design from the Middle Ages to the present. Since the nineteenth century the V&A set high standards in its published catalogues. Its combined holdings of paintings, miniatures, watercolours and drawings now run to tens of thousands of items. This is the museum's first illustrated summary catalogue of oil paintings which are shown through thousands of photographs.