Photograph - German Court, Fine Art Gallery, Great Hall, Exhibition Building, 1880-1881

Search the collections

Similar items over time

1879
1879
1879
1879
1880
1881
1881
1881
1881

Summary:: View of the German Fine Art Gallery display on the southern wall of the western nave in the Great Hall at the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition held at the Exhibition Buildings, Carlton Gardens, between 1 October 1880 and 30 April 1881.

The picture galleries of the various countries were situated on the first floor balconies of the main Exhibition Building. The German Picture Court was next to those of Holland, Belgium and the United States, on the southern wall of the Building, and differed from the art gallery displays of other countries such as France, Italy, and Great Britain, and the colony of Victoria, which had their picture galleries directly above their ground level courts in the Great Hall. Due to the floor space required for the British paintings, which also consumed some of western wall in the northern transept, originally held for Victorian art, German paintings and decorative arts were located at the opposite end of the Hall to the German Courts immediate to the right of the main eastern entrance.

Germany exhibited almost 100 oil paintings, the majority of which had been shown the previous year during the 1879 Sydney International Exhibition. Several of the works can be identified in this photograph by their catalogue labels, including possibly Louis Douzette's 'Venice - Moonrise" (no.17), on the right behind the statue of an archer, J. Munsch's 'A Politician' (no.63), W. Marc's 'The Music Lesson' (no.54), and J. Huth's 'Fastnet Rock Lighthouse, on the Irish Coast' (no.35). Several large Meissen porcelain vases also adorned the German gallery, visible atop two pedestals in the centre of this photograph.

This is one of seventy-six photographs in a photograph album. Twenty-six photographs are of the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition. The photographs provide us with important visual evidence about the gardens around the Exhibition Building, and interior exhibits, including detailed images of the British Art Court, the ceramic and pottery exhibits in the Main Hall, and the appearance of the Avenue of Nations. The photographs are taken from glass plates and retain an excellent level of clarity and detail.

The album also contains a number of photographs in the 'Frith's Series', taken by British photographer Francis Frith, or members of his staff, of Gibraltar, and villages and towns in Britain.
Description:: Albumen photograph mounted on buff-coloured card in red, cloth-covered, photograph album with decorative gold tooled border and gold tooled lettering in centre of front cover.
Description Of Content:: International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1880. Interior view of the Exhibition Building showing the German Fine Arts Gallery in the southern balcony of the western nave in the Great Hall.
Acknowledgement:: Source: Museum Victoria

Discipline:	History
Dimensions:	135 mm (Height), 188 mm (Width)
Dimension Comment:	Dimensions of photograph only

More information

Tagged with:	civic mementoes, art, exhibitions, exhibitions melbourne international 1880-1881, gardens, buildings, art exhibitions, keepsakes, royal exhibition building, public ceremonies, photography, exterior views
Themes this item is part of:	Images & Image Making Collection, Public Life & Institutions Collection, Royal Exhibition Building Collection
Primary Classification:	PUBLIC EVENTS
Secondary Classification:	Melbourne International Exhibition 1880
Tertiary Classification:	photograph albums
Inscriptions:	Written inside the front cover of album: 'W.W.Scott/ c/o Horticultural Press/ 78A Victoria Street/ Melbourne C1/ Box 1944/ Phone F2656/ [illegible]; Sold by G.W.Harris, Donolly Victoria.'
Format:	Photograph: Monochrome
Place & Date Depicted:	Royal Exhibition Building (REB), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1880
Exhibitor:	Wilhelm Marc, Munich, Germany, 1880
Exhibitor:	Josef Munsch, Munich, Germany, 1880
Exhibitor:	Julius Huth, Berlin, Germany, 1880
References:	'The Germany Gallery', South Australian Register, Mon., 25 October 1880, p.5. 'The Picture Galleries. Art in Germany', Argus Exhibition Supplement, Fri., 15 October 1880, p.28.