School of Art

In response to the poor British designs on display at the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Science and Art Department, as part of the Board of Education, was set up in South Kensington in 1856. The Department allocated grants for Schools of Art and set the curriculum for schools to follow. By 1879 there were 675 art schools in England instructing some 5000 pupils.

One of these schools was the Coalbrookdale School of Art.  Founded in 1856, it was set up as part of the Coalbrookdale Scientific and Literary Institute, which was created in 1853 for the purpose of giving ‘the inhabitants of Coalbrookdale and the Neighbourhood, the means of acquiring useful knowledge on literary and scientific subjects’. Click the images below to find out more about these Schools of Art, both locally and nationally.

Like other schools set up by the Science and Art Department, the Coalbrookdale School of Art was closely linked with the South Kensington Museum (now known as the V&A). Students could ask for items to be removed from cases to study fully. We believe that John Bradburn carried out a study of this such as this 16th century Iznik bottle at the South Kensington Museum, and this bottle can still be seen on display in the V&A today.
Like other schools set up by the Science and Art Department, the Coalbrookdale School of Art was closely linked with the South Kensington Museum (now known as the V&A). Students could ask for items to be removed from cases to study fully. We believe that John Bradburn carried out a study of this such as this 16th century Iznik bottle at the South Kensington Museum, and this bottle can still be seen on display in the V&A today.
The Coalbrookdale Scientific and Literary Institute, which housed the School of Art, had close ties to the Coalbrookdale Company. Representatives from the company were present when the institute was founded, and the company paid to have a building purpose-built to house the institute. They also paid for some of their employees to attend art classes in an effort to create more skilled designers for their art castings department.
The Coalbrookdale Scientific and Literary Institute, which housed the School of Art, had close ties to the Coalbrookdale Company. Representatives from the company were present when the institute was founded, and the company paid to have a building purpose-built to house the institute. They also paid for some of their employees to attend art classes in an effort to create more skilled designers for their art castings department.