Victoria and Albert collection artwork going on display at Dorset Museum
The painting will be the centrepiece of a new exhibition
A painting described as a 'star object' from the V&A Museum is to go on display at Dorset Museum later this month,
'Village Choir' by Thomas Webster, from 1847, is being loaned to the county site as part of their new exhibition 'Hardy's Wessex - The Landscapes'.
That will tell the story of Victorian poet, Thomas Hardy, through the Wessex landscapes that shaped his view of the world.
It's the largest collection of Hardy objects to ever be displayed, as a partnership between the Dorset, Poole, Wiltshire and Salisbury Museums - with each site covering a different topic from Hardy's life and work.
Dorset Museum will focus on rural landscapes, and exploring themes of animal welfare and social tensions.
Dorset Museum’s interim director, Elizabeth Selby, said:
"Dorset Museum is thrilled to be receiving Thomas Webster’s 1847 painting A Village Choir on loan from the Victorian and Albert Museum, London, made possible through the Weston Loans Programme. Involvement of Hardy’s family in the local village church choir was extremely important in his upbringing and influenced his work, most importantly the novel Under the Greenwood Tree.
"The inclusion of this painting in the Dorset Museum section of the exhibition which spans four sites, gives a wonderful flavour of the rural landscape in which Hardy grew up."
Sophia Weston, Trustee of the Garfield Weston Foundation, which has arranged the loan of the painting said:
“This exhibition on one of our most celebrated Victorian writers is a wonderful example of what the Weston Loan Programme sets out to do - we are so pleased to be able to support the display of such special objects in the places that inspired, and were reflected in, Hardy’s work.”
The Hardy exhibition will open on May 28th and run until 30th October.