Soane Museum Study Group – Wednesday 27 November 2024 – Cristina Alfonsin

The Soane Museum Study Group is an open forum for scholars – both established and emerging – to present new research into an aspect of architectural history and/or Soane’s collection.

Cristina Alfonsin - Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854) and the Furnishing of the Brighton Pavilion

On arrival please come to no. 14 Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The door will be staffed from 6.00pm. Your confirmation email serves as your ticket.

Cristina’s PhD research is about the three-generation Vulliamy family of clock and watch makers and the London luxury market from 1740s to 1854. During the Regency period, in addition to high-quality clock and watch making, the Vulliamys became London’s leading supplier of gilt-bronzes, bronzes and gilt ornament.

Cristina’s talk will focus on Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy’s work in the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. The partial redisplay of the Pavilion’s Banqueting and Music Rooms with original objects loaned from Royal Collection Trust in 2019 provided an opportunity to assess B.L. Vulliamy’s little explored contribution to these interiors created during George IV’s final transformation of the Pavilion into a Hindu-Chinese inspired pleasure palace between 1815 and 1822. Vulliamy’s role as supplier of high-quality gilt-bronze mounts for porcelain, gilt ornament, and clocks demonstrates his versatility and ability in different crafts but existing studies of the Royal Pavilion have drawn attention to the project’s architect John Nash (1752–1835) and the interior designers, Robert Jones (a.1815-1823) and Frederick Crace (1779–1859).

Cristina’s archival research for this period has focused on unearthing evidence that confirms Vulliamy’s direct involvement in the making process of surviving objects. During that process other aspects of his work have come to light which are also relevant and give us fascinating detail about the complex logistics behind the furnishing of luxury interiors, often overlooked, and of which the Banqueting and Music Rooms at Brighton are principal examples. By bringing together archival material alongside objects, her aim in to add to our knowledge and understanding of Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy as successful maker and supplier as well as skilled operator. His work for the Royal Pavilion marks a high point in the family’s trajectory in the manufacture of gilt ornament before it is abandoned in the early 1820s. From that point the business returns to its origins focusing solely on clock and watch making maintaining the family’s tradition for high quality standards.

About the speaker

Cristina Alfonsin completed her master’s degree in English and North American Literature at Universidad de Salamanca, before moving to the UK in 1994. For the first ten years of her career she worked in international bulk liquid logistics before taking a turn in 2009 to study an MLitt in Decorative Arts at University of Glasgow/Christie’s Education. After that she worked at British Museum (intern), Royal Collection Trust, Orleans House Gallery and Gunnersbury Park Museum. She joined the Rothschild Foundation as Collections Manager in 2014, working at Spencer House and Waddesdon Manor. In 2020 she embarked on a PhD at University of York writing on The Vulliamys and the London Luxury Market. Alongside her PhD studies she organised the Tercentenary Grinling Gibbons exhibitions, freelanced at Pitzhanger Manor and currently collaborates with the Furniture History Society, Antiquarian Horological Society and The Attingham Trust on organising overseas study trips.