In many respects, the modern world was forged in the Victorian age. By the time Queen Victoria died in 1901, transport, communications, the global economy and many aspects of social life were recognisably similar to those of our own day. These revolutionary developments are thoroughly explored in the book's three major sections: society, technology and world. The contributors, all experts in their fields, consider the ideas, products, inventions and social changes wrought by the Victorians. A look at the artistic taste and patronage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is followed by an exploration or the home life and leisure of ordinary Victorians, education and the changing roles of women and men. Other areas covered include Victorian religious ideas, architecture and the development of new technologies from photography to transport, as well as the Victorian's intriguing attitudes towards animals and nature. Chapters on the Far East, India and Africa and the colonies of white settlement explore the influence of these areas on Victorian approaches to art and design. A final section highlights the changes brought about during Victoria's long reign by contrasting its early years with its final achievements. Throughout the book an array of wonderful contemporary photographs, posters, paintings, sculpture, domestic ephemera, costume, medical equipment and many other objects and images from the V & A and other international collections have been chosen to complement the lively and informative text.
The Victorians get a terrible press--sexually repressed, hypocritical and heartless proponents of self-help. It's a hackneyed view that
The Victorian Vision--Inventing New Britain, edited by John Mackenzie, sets out to redress. These after all were the generations that created Britain's railway network and built the London Underground; that established the basis of today's global economy; that developed photography; gave us clean sewerage; and invented mass production; who gave us trades unions and Darwinism. Most importantly, these generations created the basis of the infrastructure and attitudes we still live with today.
The Victorian Vision, which partners an exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, cleverly tackles this huge era as a series of extended essays. These in turn divide into Society, Technology and The World, and the writers look at the nature of the Victorians themselves--a people wrestling with the realisation that the Earth wasn't made in seven days, that their industrialisation was despoiling their cities, and that the social structures that had held in Britain for centuries were being swept away in a matter of years. The book takes as its starting point Victoria herself--Delia Millar's essay focusing on the crucial "Royal patronage and influence". After the feckless and unpopular George IV, Victoria gave the monarchy a new solidity--creating in her own Royal Family a template for family as the heart of British life. Meanwhile, Prince Albert, mover and organiser behind the Great Exhibition of 1851, made a focus for British exports and industry. This slab-sized coffee table companion is really made by its superb use of pictures. Engravings, early photographs, lithographs, illustrations from Punch, and contemporary photos of Victorian artefacts tell the story of this industrious and creative breed better than 100,000 words. And the heavily moral and allegorical paintings of Dyce, Holman Hunt, Ford Madox Brown and Rossetti dramatically illustrate the moral, religious and political storms that created the Victorians' philosophy. The book is lavish and very large, but the essay format makes dipping in and out an informative pleasure, as you discover what those "Victorian values" really were.--John Rennie
