The Art & Heritage
At The Velvet Drawing Room
Look through the glass
Stay for the stories
The Velvet Drawing Room looks through the glass to see that Victorian taxidermy is about far more than dead animals in glass cases.
Victorian taxidermy is found at the end of a cultural path that is littered with the stories of the pursuit of enlightenment in the 19th Century, and it begins with a question.
Why did the Victorians fill their homes with ferns, fossils, shells and stuffed birds?
In the middle of the nineteenth century, natural history became a national passion. Ships, railways and cheap books brought the natural world within reach, and the glass case is where it all ended up.
Start with the story of the craze in Victorian Natural History Mania, then follow the specimens in Before The Glass. Meet the makers in The World of Victorian Taxidermy, and see how the old craft still lives and causes dramatic excitement in Taxidermy Today.
Come for the history, the research into individual taxidermists, advice for collectors or ideas for your own home.
Wander, look through the glass, and stay for the stories.
VICTORIAN NATURAL HISTORY MANIA
The Victorians did not love nature any more than earlier generations but they were the first to be able to reach it, afford it and display it.
A ROMANCE WITH NATURAL HISTORY
How the Victorians fell in love with natural history, and why they put it under glass
THE VICTORIANS’ HERITAGE
The Victorians did not start a mid-19th-century natural history craze from nothing. By 1800, three foundational things were already in place and led to the mania, for that’s exactly what it was.
THE VICTORIANS WALKED ALONG TWO PATHS
The first was a local path – through the countryside and down to the seaside that supplied ferns, shells and fossils, and the second was the path through the British Empire which supplied exotic things from far away places.
BEFORE THE GLASS
The stories at The Velvet Drawing Room begin with the world as it was before animals were put behind glass.
A WORLD BUILT ON WONDER
From the private Wunderkammers and Cabinets of Curiosities of the 1600s to the immense attractions of the World Expos of the 1800s and the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Victorian world was built on wonder.
BIRTH OF THE EARLY MENAGERIE, CIRCUS AND ZOO
Here you can explore the stories of the earliest menageries, the birth of the modern zoo and the circus from Henry 1st to The Tower of London, the Victorian animal dealers and the birth of the Zoological Society of London.
THE ERA OF COLONIAL EXPLORERS AND NATURALISTS, AND GENTLEMEN COLLECTORS
We see the indelible influence of Audubon, Darwin, and Gould that drove the 19th Century pursuit for natural history collecting.
Follow the stories of the journeys of colonial explorers and hunters as they travelled the globe in sailing ships, and step inside some of the experiences of the gentlemen collectors from Britain’s upper echelons who shaped the era’s tastes.
THE WORLD OF VICTORIAN TAXIDERMY
Original research and in-depth perspectives of the world of Victorian Taxidermy
STORIES AND MASTERPIECES
In truth, Victorian taxidermy in the 19th Century has two stories, the first is about how the animal came to be behind the glass, and the other story is about the Victorian Taxidermist whose hands shaped it.
Many of these Victorian Taxidermists have personal stories that have never been known before, but through careful research and scrutiny of newly-available historic records these stories now have their own voice.
LEADING VICTORIAN TAXIDERMISTS
Discover the leading Victorian taxidermy firms. Explore their masterpieces, their distinctive styles, their beautiful cases, with their labels that are small works of art in their own right.
TAXIDERMY TODAY
Taxidermy is still alive today – in collections, conservation, restoration, and in the contemporary appreciation and enduring influence it has in the world of art, fashion, and interior design.
A NEW ROMANCE
After taxidermy’s divorce from social fashion in the mid‑1900s, there’s a new romance.
Victorian taxidermy now inspires collectors, artists, museums, and conservators around the world as well as modern naturalists continuing the legacy of the art.
FASHION, INTERIOR DESIGN AND HIGH DRAMA
The fashion world has embraced it – from Alexander McQueen to Schiaparelli.
Interior designers are drawn to its high‑class, dramatic presence and its ability to transform a room.
Luxury websites now serve as the shop windows for the limited number of surviving Victorian cases, while auction houses are alive with global bidders chasing the ultimate find.
