What's On

• Special event

  Vidya Patel: māyā

  V&A South Kensington

  participatory work and live performances for the Turbine Hall in response to visual artist and activist Cecilia…
• Past Event

  Lunchtime Concert

  V&A South Kensington

  in Baltimore, completing studies in the class of Leon Fleisher, and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia…
• Past Event

  Dinner and a Movie: Love, Cecil

  Explore the life and work of Cecil Beaton with this special film screening, followed by a Q&A with Director Lisa Immordino Vreeland and V&A Curator Susanna Brown, and a bespoke meal in the Members’ Room.
• Past Event

  Artificially Intelligent Display

  Vladan Joler, Fabio Lattanzi Antinori, Maral Pourkazemi, Anna Ridler, Caroline Sinders, Nye Thompson and Cecilie…
• Past Event

  Treasures in the Attic? Explaining the benefits of the Acceptance in Lieu scheme

  V&A South Kensington

  Join Anastasia Tennant and Cecily Rainey from the Arts Council, to hear more about the fascinating objects…

Features

• Article

  Pietre dure: The tomb of Cecilia Metella
• Article

  Opera divas

  Maria Callas (1923 – 1977) Maria Anna Sophie Cecilia Kalogeropoulos, known to the world as Maria Callas…
• Article

  Cecil Beaton – an introduction

  A photographer of fashion, society, and the British Royal Family, Cecil Beaton was also a set and costume designer and fashion expert
• Article

  Cecil Beaton: royal photographer

  Find out more about the Cecil Beaton archive of royal portraits at the V&A
• Article

  Costume conservation: My Fair Lady

  Designed in the 1950s by iconic designer and photographer Cecil Beaton, the dress was influenced by Beaton's…

Collections

• Collection

  Cecil Beaton

  The V&A holds the archive of royal portraits by renowned fashion photographer Sir Cecil Beaton (1904 – 80), who became court photographer to the British Royal Family in 1937, and continued to photograph them for the next three generations, including taking the official portraits for Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation in 1953.
• 

  Collection

  Cristóbal Balenciaga

  V&A has the largest collection of Balenciaga in the UK, initiated in the 1970s by the photographer Cecil…

Objects

Saint Cecilia

Mughal Empire, first half 17th century

St Cecilia

Seville, ca. 1610-ca. 1630

Relief

France, early 16th century

H Beard Print Collection

London, 24th April 1782

St Cecilia and the Angels

Paris, 1836

From the Blog

• 

  Blog Post

  Cataloguing the V&A Wedgwood Collection Archive

  small collections relating to key Wedgwood figures and artists such as Harry Barnard (1862 – 1933), Cecil…
• 

  Blog Post

  V&A Special Project at the Venice Art Biennale 2022

  This year’s Venice Art Biennale was curated by Cecilia Alemani, the first Italian woman curator in the…
• 

  Blog Post

  ‘Acts of Resistance’: artist recommendations

  death for her spiritual and military leadership during the Ndebele-Shona uprisings of 1896 – 97 against Cecil…
• 

  Blog Post

  Queen Elizabeth II

  Royal Portrait photograph by Cecil Beaton, 1968. Museum no.…
• 

  Blog Post

  A big win for a young designer – creating the Platinum Jubilee emblem

  Queen Elizabeth II on her Coronation Day, 2nd June 1953, photograph by Cecil Beaton. Museum no.…