William Bullock’s Museum

This hand-colored engraving, produced by Rudolph Ackermann in 1810, depicts the second floor of William Bullock’s Museum at 22 Piccadilly, London. Moved from Liverpool the previous year, the new museum was initially called “The London Museum of Natural History.” The new premises, with a large main gallery (the “Great Room,” formerly used by Astley’s Circus), were well-lit by a domed skylight. In the above image, visitors inspect a wide variety of artifacts, but the centerpiece of the museum—and the image—is the mock-terrarium: an “artificial forest” in a large enclosure that contains a small community of taxidermied animals in habitat groups, complete with artificial trees and vegetation (leaves and shrubs covered the floor). The quadrupeds in this simulated tropical forest include an elephant, rhinoceros, zebra, kangaroo, bears, and ostriches (Costeloe 39). Smaller animals and birds were placed in the trees; around one of the trunks, Bullock carefully wound a boa constrictor, twenty-two feet in length, preparing to attack a terrified wood baboon. The “artificial forest” is surrounded by a low railing, with allotted space for built-in seating.  

In the specimen cases directly behind the mock-terrarium (from the artist’s position) are “preserved animals displayed in broad groups: birds, amphibians, serpents, lizards, fish, insects, crabs and worms” (Pearce, 2007, 17). The cases on the far side of the room (on the left side of the image) contain shells, minerals, and other natural history specimens. In addition, there are a variety of ethnographic artifacts, such as feathered cloaks, necklaces, and fishing tackle from the "Sandwich Islands"—many of which were acquired on Cook’s famous voyages through the South Pacific (and purchased at the sale of Lever’s collections in 1806). Breaking the room’s “lining” of shelves is a small section dedicated to antique arms and armor: hung on the wall, towards the left side of the image, is a selection of shields, breastplates, swords, and battle-axes. On the ground stands a fully armored equestrian, as well as a standing suit of infantry armor (Pearce, 2007, 20). As Susan Pearce notes, there were in total “ninety-five pieces of arms and armor [...] most of which had come from Greene” (17). 

Like many Romantic-era collections, William Bullock’s museum reflects the scientific community’s waxing interest in systemic, taxonomic organization while simultaneously attempting to satisfy the public’s desire for enthralling spectacles. The combination of entertainment and education that Ackermann’s image captures is reflective of how museums in the period sat between the wonder cabinets of the Renaissance and the more orderly museums of the Victorian period (see Pascoe 61). For example, Ackermann’s engraving reveals that Bullock’s collection contained the variety of objects typical of curiosity cabinets; but it also shows that these objects were displayed according to a more intelligible classificatory scheme. The image emphasizes the formality of clean shelves, distinct areas of focus, and keenly interested visitors while capturing the vibrancy of the aesthetically-driven wall display and extravagant mock-terrarium. This centerpiece is perhaps the most telling instance of how Bullock staged conversations with contemporary visual spectacles by incorporating the theatrical effects of dioramas. Although Bullock’s effort to recreate a “natural” environment undoubtedly takes a certain amount of poetic license (the plants and animals he includes in the terrarium do not coexist in the wild), it is meant to increase the educational efficacy of his specimens. Like the museum on the whole, the terrarium is both pleasing to the eye and to the intellect. 

A number of publications summarized the highlights of the museum at 22 Piccadilly. Accompanying the image in Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, was the following enthusiastic description:  

‘The arrangement of the Natural History Department is particularly striking and novel; the astonished visitor is in an instant transported from the crowded streets of the Metropolis to the centre of a Tropical Forest in which are seen as in real life all its various inhabitants, from the huge Elephant and Rhinoceros to the diminutive quadruped; and of the feathered creation, from the Ostrich to the almost insect Humming Bird, including the richest assemblage of the most rare, singular, and splendid birds ever brought together in one view.’ (Abrahams 61) 

While this overview attempts to convey to readers the dramatic features of the “artificial forest,” the visual medium does so far more effectively. Ackermann performs the mundane task of listing (visually) the contents of the mock-terrarium, as well as the gallery on the whole, while simultaneously recreating—at least partially—the feeling that visitors experienced upon seeing the exhibits in person. Ackermann’s engraving does not replace the experience of going to Bullock’s museum, but rather creates an “immersive summary” that, by promoting the novelty, singularity, and diversity of the collection, encourages the public to see it in person. Entrance to Bullock’s Museum at 22 Piccadilly was granted to any and all who simply arrived at the door with a shilling (see Pearce, 2008, 19), while obtaining access to the British Museum remained difficult and expensive. 

Ackermann’s image appeared again in Bell’s Weekly Messenger in February 1814. The version of the print in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, shown here, also contains a cutting of the following advertisement: 

‘The LONDON MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY, at the EGYPTIAN HALL, PICCADILLY, has been considerably augmented by the addition of many rare and valuable specimens, and now contains upwards of Twelve Thousand Quadrupeds, Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, Shells, and Fossils, collected from every part of the known world, at an expence [sic] of 25,000l. Preserved and arranged in the most beautiful, scientific, and instructive manner, forming by far the grandest display of animated nature in Europe--Admittance every day from ten till dusk, at One Shilling each. Descriptive Catalogues 2s. 6d. each -- N.B. An elegant large Exhibition Room to Let, on the Ground Floor of the Museum.’ 

By 1814, Bullock had moved his collections to new premises on the south side of Piccadilly. Here at the “Egyptian Hall” (a name acquired on account of its faux-Egyptian façade), Bullock expanded his available space, and the scope of his displays, including a much improved “Pantherion.” He auctioned off his main collection in 1819 (which by then numbered over 30,000 items) and staged a series of extremely popular exhibitions, such as Belzoni’s Tomb (an immersive display of spectacular Egyptian antiquities) in 1821. Ackermann’s delightful 1810 aquatint therefore captures a museum space that only existed for roughly two years.