Abstract
Though much private discussion surrounding the decoration for the new Houses of Parliament focused on technical matters of painting, decisions about how to proceed largely hinged upon issues of aesthetic appropriateness and even taste. This chapter shows how such matters of “taste” encode political as well as aesthetic orientations to British figuration. It surveys exchanges of letters among Prince Albert and his circle as well as reviews focusing on taste, and argues that the deliberately eclectic artworks and furnishings designed for Victoria’s garden pavilion were, in some respects, revolutionary for the time. Ultimately, the pavilion reveals the hybridization of Victorian taste, itself a discursive expression of conflicting political and aesthetic goals that only resolve in the practical encounters with Victorian buildings, art, and objects.
Published Version
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