In 2008 material from the RIBA's collection of drawings by Andrea Palladio began a two-year tour of Europe, beginning in Vicenza. Loans of other material went to the United States, where drawings by C. F. A. Voysey were included in an exhibition at the Block Museum of Art, Illinois.
Napoleon III et Victoria: A Visit to the Paris 1855 World Fair
Musee du Second Empire|
Compeigne, France
3 October 2008 – 19 January 2009
The RIBA lent three drawings to this exhibition focussing on Queen Victoria's relationship with Napoleon III of France and the 1855 World Fair.
|Design for the Great Hall, Euston Station, London
Artist: Philip Charles Hardwick
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
|Conjectural reconstruction of the Baths of Agrippa, Rome
Artist: Andrea Palladio
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
Landscapes of the Imagination
Palais Het Loo|, Apeldoorn
11 June – 28 September 2008
This exhibition centred on garden history and included four drawings from the RIBA collections.
|Plan of Lord Bedford's House, Twickenham, London
Artist: Robert Smythson
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
Chinese Whispers: Chinoiserie in Britain
Brighton Museum and Art Gallery|, Brighton 3 May – 2 November 2008
This exhibition traced the history of chinoiserie in Britain and its changing style over the centuries. Chinese Whispers was the first major exhibition in Britain for more than 70 years to highlight the impact of chinoiserie on style, fashion, décor and social behaviour. The RIBA lent three drawings to this exhibition.
|Design for repairs to the Chinese Fishing Temple, Virginia Water, Windsor Great Park
Artist: Samuel Sanders Teulon
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
Design in the Age of Darwin
Block Museum of Art|, Northwestern University, Illinois
18 April – 5 September 2008
This exhibition examined the influence of Darwinian thought on Architecture and the Decorative Arts as well as the formalism/functionalism debate prevalent amongst architects of this era. The RIBA lent five C. F. A. Voysey drawings to this exhibition.
|Design for a wallpaper showing water snakes for Essex and Company
Artist: C.F.A. Voysey
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
Brilliant Women, 18th Century Bluestockings
National Portrait Gallery|, London
8 Febuary – 15 June 2008
Brilliant Women explores the impact of the original 'Bluestocking' Circle – a group of intellectual women who were celebrated for forging new links between gender, learning and virtue in 18th-century Britain. The RIBA lent a drawing of the Great Drawing Room, Montagu House by Joseph Bonomi.
|Design for the Great Drawing Room in Montagu House, 22 Portland Square, London
Artist: Joseph Bonomi
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections
Arts Spaces of the Future
National Theatre|, London
9 January – 17 February 2008
This exhibition was organised by RIBA London to display the shortlisted entries for the RIBA Arts Spaces of the Future competition. In addition to the competition entries there was a small section on the history of the National Theatre to which the RIBA lent a model of the National Theatre by Denys Lasdun.
|Model of the Royal National Theatre, South Bank, London, showing the stage and auditorium of the Olivier Theatre
Designer: Denys Lasdun and Partners
Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections