Figure 2.

a Sir Richard Owen (1804–1892) in a portrait of 1881 by the Pre-Raphaelite painter William Holman Hunt (1827–1910). Owen’s vision of a museum for natural history was realised that year with the opening of b the British Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington, which immediately became known as the Natural History Museum. This original illustration is by the Museum’s architect, Alfred Waterhouse (1830–1905). During construction, the Treasury objected to the cost, and Waterhouse suggested it should be built in two stages, first the magnificent front, then later the back and two wings - one along Exhibition Road that you can just see in the drawing, and along Queen’s Gate. With the front completed, the will to fund stage two vanished and the wings was never built. (With permission of The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London)