Report from Europe.

Gothic art at the Victoria and Albert Museum

This winter's major exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is called Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547, which spans work produced from the reign of Henry IV to that of Henry VIII. According to Paul Williamson, the keeper of sculpture, metal-work, ceramics, and glass at the museum, it is the "last piece of the medieval English jigsaw begun in the 1980s with two earlier exhibitions, at the Hayward Gallery and the Royal Academy."

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The exhibition, which is on view until January 18, 2004, includes some three hundred objects from the Victoria and Albert and on loan from other institutions. The title was deliberately chosen to emphasize that the show includes artifacts created for consumption in England even if made elsewhere--for example, the Donne Triptych (probably 1478) by the Flemish painter Hans Memling, now in the National Gallery in London, was commissioned by Sir John Donne.

Many of the works in the exhibition were made for people who figure in William Shakespeare's history plays. One of the themes the curator of the show, Richard Marks, explores is how the enormous wealth and enlightened patronage of English monarchs, aristocrats, merchants, and the Church made the late Middle Ages one of the richest periods for the arts in England, despite continuous wars with France and the Wars of the Roses.

Among the highlights of the show are Henry V's funerary helmet, shield, and sword; the crown of Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy (Edward IV's sister); a silver-gilt beaker made for Margaret Beaufort, countess of Richmond and Derby, the mother of Henry VII; and two early fifteenth century manuscripts known as the Breviary of John, duke of Bedford (Salisbury Breviary) and the Bedford Hours and Psalter, also made for the duke of Bedford. They are reunited in this exhibition, having been separated for nearly six hundred years.

An illustrated catalogue, edited by Marks and Williamson, accompanies the show. It is published by V and A Publications and is distributed in North America by Harry N. Abrams. The catalogue may be obtained by telephoning 800-759-0190.