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Coversheet for Thesis in Sussex Research Online A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Elkington & Co. and the Art of Electro-Metallurgy, circa 1840-1900. Alistair Grant. A Thesis Submitted to the University of Sussex for Examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. September 2014. 2 I hereby declare that this thesis is solely my own work, and has not been, and will not be submitted in whole, or in part, to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature:……………………………………… 3 This PhD thesis is dedicated to my wife Lucy and my daughter Agnes. I would like to thank my wife, Dr. Lucy Grant, without whose love, encouragement, and financial support my doctoral studies could not have happened. Her fortitude, especially during the difficult early months of 2013 when our daughter Agnes was ill, anchored our family and home, and enabled me to continue my research and complete this PhD thesis. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Maurice Howard. Having nurtured my enthusiasm for Art History as an undergraduate at the University of Sussex from 1983-1986, when I approached him, 23 years later, about pursuing PhD research into Elkington & Co. and the art of electro-metallurgy, he welcomed me back to my alma mater, and generously provided me with his wisdom, experience, and constant encouragement. Professor Howard’s expansive art historical knowledge, academic advice and support, and, above all, his patient enthusiasm, calm judgment, and much-valued friendship was unwavering throughout the successive stages of researching and writing this PhD thesis. I am very grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for providing full-time funding for my doctoral research through a Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA). My research into Elkington & Co. and the art of electro-metallurgy would not have been possible without the financial support of the studentship, and the opportunity to work at the Victoria and Albert Museum, with access to the Museum’s staff, resources, and materials, which the AHRC CDA made possible. At the Victoria and Albert Museum, I would especially like to thank Angus Patterson (Senior Curator of European Base Metals, Arms and Armour) whose friendship and generous curatorial support of my research in the Museum’s collections and archives, and beyond, has been invaluable. Our camaraderie and continuous dialogue, which has ranged far beyond a shared passion for Elkington’s electrotypes, across the whole history of metalwork, especially the evolution of materials, tools, and techniques, was a continual source of energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration throughout the researching and writing of this PhD thesis. Without his curatorial expertise and passionate championing of the V&A’s unique collection of electrotypes, and his encyclopædic knowledge of seemingly all of the 45,000+ objects in the Metalwork Collection, my research and thesis would have been so much the poorer, and the social experience of my academic and curatorial studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum would have been a far less companionable and enjoyable pursuit. I would also like to thank my supervisor at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Ann Eatwell (Padgett and Braham Curator), whose knowledge and passion for British silverware, and the social history of drinking and dining was a constant source of inspiration in developing my understanding Elkington’s electroplated hollowware, flatware and cutlery. I have also been fortunate to observe her study of the archive and collection of sculptural models by Edward Barnard and Sons in the Archive of Art and Design (AAD), a project that she has generously shared and discussed with me step-by-step, and the development of my archival and object-based research methodology has benefitted greatly from watching her work. At the Victoria and Albert Museum, I would also like to thank Professor Christopher Breward, Dr. Glenn Adamson, and Professor Bill Sherman (former and current Heads of Research) and their departmental staff, for facilitating my AHRC CDA studies at the Museum. The unique environment for museum-based research provided by the V&A’s Research Department provided essential administrative support, a study space and secure base amidst a likeminded community of researchers during my doctoral research. 5 At the Victoria and Albert Museum, I would also like to thank Rowan Watson (Senior Curator, Manuscripts) in the National Art Library (NAL), and Christopher Marsden (Senior Archivist) in the AAD, and their deparmental staff, most especially Eva White and James Sutton at Blythe House, who facilitated my primary research into the Elkington & Co. visitors’ books (NAL) and business records (AAD). I would also like to thank Tessa Murdoch (Deputy Keeper of Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass), Richard Edgcumbe (Senior Curator of Metalwork), and Holly Trusted (Senior Curator of Sculpture), and Professor Jeremy Aynsley (formerly Royal College of Art, now University of Brighton) for their friendly advice, support, and constant encouragement. In America, I would like to thank Ellenor M. Alcorn (Associate Curator, Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York who invited me to contribute to the exhibition Victorian Electrotypes: Old Treasures, New Technology by speaking at a symposium and Sunday at the Met lecture in March 2012, which prompted my exploration of the Elkington & Co. visitors’ book for the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, and the reception of The Milton Shield in America. In France, Audrey Gay-Mazuel (Conservateur, Département XIXe siècle) at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and Yves Badetz (Conservateur en chef) at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and Nathalie Roux (Conservatrice en chef) at the Musée d’Art Roger Quilliot (MARQ) in Clermont-Ferrand all provided enthusiastic support for my research and access to objects and archival material. Astrid Nielsen (conservator, Skulpturensammlung) at Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) also facilitated my research into the development of nickel silver manufacture and electro-metallurgy in Germany. I would also like to thank Kathryn Jones (Curator, Royal Collection Trust) and David Wheeler (Senior Conservator, Royal Collection Trust) for providing me with access to and information about Elkington & Co. objects in the Royal Collection. Malcolm Hay (Curator) and Melanie Unwin (Deputy Curator) of the Parliamentary Art Collection at the Palace of Westminster have also been generous in providing me with access to and information about the Magna Carta Statues and Scenes from Tudor History in the House of Lords. Nigel Blackamore (Senior Curator) at Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery and Clare Smith (Collections Manager) at Amgueddfa Cymru in Cardiff were also of great assistance in providing me with access to and information about the respective editions of The Death of Tewdric Mawr. Craig Bowen (Museums and Galleries Development Manager) at Canterbury Heritage Museum was also helpful in facilitating my study of the plaster casts of the Magna Carta Statues at West Gate Towers Museum. I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of my external and internal examiners, Professor Alison Yarrington (Professor of Art History and Dean of the School of Arts, English, Drama and Publishing, Loughborough University) and Dr. Meaghan Clarke (Senior Lecturer in Art History, University of Sussex) whose close readings of this PhD thesis raised a number of sage observations and suggested important corrections to the text and bibliography, which improved its final draft. Lastly, I would like to thank Neville Topping, Julie Seddon Jones, and Amanda Harmer who, in May 2006, commissioned me as Lead Artist-in-residence to ‘Salvage, Document, and Transform’ the derelict 2.43 acre site of the former Museum of Science & Industry in Birmingham as part of the £63m development of Newhall Square. My research for the series of public artworks I created on that important historic site sparked my desire to pursue PhD research into the history of Elkington & Co. and the art of electro-metallurgy. 6 UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX. Alistair Grant. Doctor of Philosophy. SUMMARY. Elkington & Co. and the Art of Electro-Metallurgy, circa 1840-1900. This is the first major art historical study of Elkington & Co., the British art-metalwork company that from c.1840 invented and patented methods of electro-depositing gold and silver, which they developed artistically and commercially into the modern industrial art of electro-metallurgy. It analyses how Elkington’s syntheses of science and art into industrial manufacturing processes revolutionized the design and production, replication and reproduction of precious metalwork, metal sculpture, and ornamental art-metalwork, and why the art of electro-metallurgy, the world’s first electrical art, exemplifies the social, and cultural change of the mid-Victorian era. This PhD thesis studies Elkington’s
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