I missed the opening of the new European Galleries at the V&A eatlier this week, so took the opportunity of a visit to South Kensington to see them.   They have been designed by ZMMA, who were responsible for the redesign of the Watts Gallery.   I liked the range of objects on display, including a lot of fabrics and also the very faint austerity of the display which offsets the luxe of the objects themselves.   The galleries always felt darkly subterranean, but not any more.   And it’s particularly nice to see clothes in what were the Jones Galleries as they give a human dimension to the furniture.

This is a very beautiful Spanish sculpture c.1720:-

I liked this Goan ivory:-

The Dance of Death:-

Algardi’s terracotta bust of Cardinal Paolo Emilio Zacchia:-

The foot of a carved ivory cup:-

A terracotta late eighteenth-centuty bust, unidentified, just before the Revolution:-

And a coat and waistcoat:-