Annabel Ricketts enjoys a visual feast at the V&A but takes issue with the show’s lack of rigour
The V&A’s exhibition Gothic: Art for England 1400–1547 brings together a magnificent array of objects drawn from all over Europe, and the organisers have achieved a sumptuous display. To make it digestible, the arrangement is thematic rather than chronological, with objects grouped in different sections. One of the first of these deals with Patronage, and examines the commissions of a number of patrons from different levels of society, ranging from royalty to merchants and civic institutions. Here are some of the most splendid objects in the exhibition. Perhaps the most breathtaking is the early (c.1390–1410) reliquary of the Order of St Esprit from the Louvre. Little more than 5in. high, it still manages to contain God the Father, Christ and the Virgin Mary, together with seven saints, all set in a gold arcaded structure adorned with enamelled flowers, rubies, sapphires and pearls.
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