Conservator Adriana is cleaning a beautiful sculpture thought to have been designed by the Renaissance master Donatello and produced in his workshop almost 600 years ago. Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels is a work known as a relief, in which three-dimensional elements stand out against a flat base. Once a layer of dirt is lifted, Adriana discovers ancient varnish, which she must remove without damaging the paint surface below. And as she cleans, she makes a discovery about the piece which helps to explain how it was originally used.\n\nTheatre and Performance curator Simon has just taken delivery of a costume from the 2013 stage play The Audience, in which Helen Mirren played the Queen across six decades of her reign. The dress, a regal outfit inspired by a 1950s gown from royal couturier Sir Norman Hartnell, has a secret that explains how Mirren was able to undertake up to ten quick changes each night during the show – it zips up at the back like an enormous coat. After conservator Gesa makes a mannequin in the shape of Helen Mirren on which to display the dress, Simon invites its designer, renowned theatrical designer Bob Crowley, to the V&A for a reunion with his royal creation.\n\nIn Devon, archivist Christopher is meeting up with a 91-year-old master of his craft, a man whose creations have made all our lives easier. Sir Kenneth Grange designed the Kenwood Chef, the parking meter, the famous blue-and-yellow Intercity 125 train, Parker pens, and a breakthrough Kodak camera – as well as hundreds of other products – in a career as a designer spanning 60 years. Now, he’s donating the archive of his life’s work to the V&A, and Christopher faces the daunting task of selecting just a few key pieces for a display in the new V&A East Storehouse. Sir Kenneth is also donating his sketchbooks to the museum, containing a day-by-day record of his thinking as he set about creating products that many of us have used for decades. \n\nAt V&A Dundee, the team have recruited contemporary artist and designer Yinka Ilori to help them fill the enormous entrance hall at the museum, one of the largest exhibition spaces in Scotland. Yinka, a designer famous for filling public spaces with giant and very colourful works of art, is proposing building a 170 sq metre technicolour maze, for children of all ages, filled with zip-up panels to allow you to slip through from one section to another. But will the result meet with the approval of a focus group of local children?
Source: BBC 4
Series 2: 6. Painting: The Great Renunciation Of The Buddha
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BBC 4
Series 2: 5. Bags Inside Out/churchill Despatch Box
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BBC 4
Series 2: 4. Bacchus Vase / Minton
Conservator Susan is at the centre of an epic conservation project that will take 20 years to complete: conserving a unique set of Chinese paintings called The Ten Kings of Purg ...
13-03-2024
BBC 4
Series 2: 3. Alice In Wonderland
Curator Kate from the Theatre and Performance Department embarks on one of the Museum’s most ambitious exhibitions to date. Celebrating Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wond ...
08-03-2024
BBC 4
Series 2: 2. Epic Iran
As the V&A's Museum of Childhood in east London prepares to undergo a major refurbishment, its collection of over 30,000 toys and games must be packed away - including the museu ...
07-03-2024
BBC 4
Series 2: 1. Jacob Jordaens: Renaissance Watercolours
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now cameras have been allowed back behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Although many of us hav ...
06-03-2024
BBC 4
Series 1: Episode 6
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now, cameras have been allowed behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London. \n\nOnly a small part of th ...
23-10-2022
BBC 4
Series 1: Episode 5
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now, for the first time, cameras have been allowed behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London.\n \nOnl ...
16-10-2022
BBC 4
Series 1: Episode 4
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now, for the first time, cameras have been allowed behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London.\n\nOnly ...
09-10-2022
BBC 4
Series 1: Episode 3
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now, cameras have been allowed behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London. \nOnly a small part of the ...
25-09-2022
BBC 4
Series 2: 4. Bacchus Vase / Minton
Conservator Susan is at the centre of an epic conservation project that will take 20 years to complete: conserving a unique set of Chinese paintings called The Ten Kings of Purg ...
13-03-2024
BBC 4
Series 3: Episode 1
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now cameras are returning to the V&A, going behind the scenes to parts of the Victoria and Albert Museum never seen before.\n\nCurator ...
25-04-2022
BBC 4
Series 1: Episode 3
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now, cameras have been allowed behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London. \nOnly a small part of the ...
25-09-2022
BBC 4
Series 2: 1. Jacob Jordaens: Renaissance Watercolours
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now cameras have been allowed back behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Although many of us hav ...
06-03-2024
BBC 4
Series 3: Episode 4
The curators are searching for untold stories in the museum’s objects. Curator Christine is working on a major new exhibition highlighting African fashion, spanning coutur ...
16-05-2022
BBC 4
Series 2: 2. Epic Iran
As the V&A's Museum of Childhood in east London prepares to undergo a major refurbishment, its collection of over 30,000 toys and games must be packed away - including the museu ...
07-03-2024
BBC 4
Series 1: Episode 6
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now, cameras have been allowed behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London. \n\nOnly a small part of th ...
23-10-2022
BBC 4
Series 2: 5. Bags Inside Out/churchill Despatch Box
Behind the scenes at the V&A, Winston Churchill’s despatch box needs attention, it’s removal day for a 350-year-old doll’s house, and a famous painting by Cons ...
14-03-2024
BBC 4
Series 3: Episode 5
The spotlight falls on objects representing industry and design.\n\nCurator Martin is preparing for a new exhibition showcasing a leading postwar photographer, Maurice Broomfiel ...
23-05-2022
BBC 4
Series 2: 3. Alice In Wonderland
Curator Kate from the Theatre and Performance Department embarks on one of the Museum’s most ambitious exhibitions to date. Celebrating Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wond ...
08-03-2024
BBC 4