The 1862 Universal Exhibition in London

England had innovated in 1851 with the very first World’s Fair. Ten years later, it wishes to celebrate the anniversary of this event and thus hosts the third World’s Fair, the second on its soil. It however only opened in 1862, in a new building still rivaling grandeur, the Exhibition Palace.

The tenors of the French decorative arts, Ferdinand Barbedienne, Carrier-Belleuse, Fourdinois, Viollet-le-Duc, are present and illustrated in the album of John Burley Waring, Masterpieces of the Industrial Art of the International Exhibition of 1862. Barbedienne in particular causes a sensation with his works of arts inlaid with cloisonné and chased enamels, updating an old technique, after the designs of Constant Sevin.

Like the two previous exhibitions, this one houses under the same nave the products from all nations, 39 of which are attending. Japan honors this event with a delegation to visit the World’s Fair, in order to consider a further attendance.

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