Exhibition Highlights

Victoria & Albert: Art & Love

Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873), The Royal Family in 1846 , 1846

In this well-known picture Queen Victoria is skilfully depicted as both sovereign and mother. The scene is one of domestic harmony, albeit with the symbols of monarchy prominently displayed. The painting was hung in the Dining Room at Osborne House. Although intended ultimately for this private setting, it was first exhibited in 1847 in St James’s Palace, where it was seen by 100,000 members of the public. In 1850 it was engraved for public circulation. The picture was not well received by some of the press, who criticised its ‘sensuous and fleshy’ character.

Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873), Queen Victoria , 1843

The royal couple entrusted Winterhalter to paint both their official portraits and more private images. Here Queen Victoria is shown in an intimate and alluring pose, leaning against a red cushion with her hair half unravelled from its fashionable knot. In her Journal, the Queen refers to the painting as ‘the secret picture’, prepared as a surprise for Prince Albert’s 24th birthday. It was hung in the Prince’s Waiting Room in Windsor, and the Queen referred to it as ‘my darling Albert’s favourite picture’.

Sir William Ross (1794-1860), Prince Albert , 1840

Ross began painting this portrait in February 1840, soon after the Queen and Prince Albert were married. It became Queen Victoria’s favourite image of her husband. The miniature was copied and set into a bracelet, which Queen Victoria is shown wearing in several portraits. In 1872, the Queen’s eldest daughter Victoria asked her mother for ‘an engraving of the lovely miniature of Sir Wm. Ross (in the black velvet coat, in profile) which stands on your writing table’.

Sir Edwin Landseer (1803-1873), Victoria, Princess Royal with Eos , 1841

Landseer worked for Queen Victoria both before and after her marriage to Prince Albert. Princess Victoria (‘Pussy’) is portrayed at the age of eight months, wearing a white dress with a pink satin ribbon. Eos was Prince Albert’s favourite pet, and it is no coincidence that Landseer included her in a picture intended for the Prince’s birthday. Prince Albert is recorded as having been ‘quite delighted’ with the picture, which hung in his Writing Room at Buckingham Palace.

William Powell Frith (1819-1909), Ramsgate Sands: ‘Life at the Seaside’ , 1851-4

Frith was one of the first artists to paint scenes of modern life. Ramsgate, a seaside resort on the Kentish coast, became a popular destination for day trips in the 1840s. Queen Victoria had visited the town several times between 1825 and 1836. Frith depicts children building sandcastles, fashionably dressed young ladies, street entertainers and tradesmen. The picture includes a self-portrait of the artist and a young girl thought to be the artist’s daughter. It was a great success with both the public and critics. Its reception at the Royal Academy in 1854 was so enthusiastic that a guard-rail was installed to protect it from the crowds keen to examine details at close hand.

Queen Victoria, The Children at Osborne , 1850

Such was Queen Victoria’s public profile that she found it decidedly difficult to paint and sketch undisturbed. For this reason she often sought subjects for her art amongst her family and close circle. In this watercolour of June 1841 the Queen painted her six eldest children in the garden at Osborne. As her young children grew they provided a never-ending source of interest, and their changing appearance and their games were frequently captured in drawings and watercolours.

Queen Victoria, A Scene from ‘Der Hahnenschlag’ , 1852

In January 1852 the royal couple’s six eldest children appeared in a performance of August von Kotzebue’s 1803 comedy Der Hahnenschlag ( ‘The Cockshy’ ), at Windsor Castle. Plays of this kind, which typically included musical interludes, were a regular part of royal family life, involving dedicated rehearsal with the children’s tutors. The characters are all dressed in traditional Bavarian Tracht costume, reflecting Queen Victoria’s interest in national costumes. Stylistically the picture shows the influence of Winterhalter, who taught the Queen oil painting during his visits in 1851 and 1852.

Emil Wolff (1802-1879), Prince Albert, 1849

Prince Albert commissioned this portrait from the Prussian sculptor Emil Wolff in 1841 as a gift for his new wife. The Prince is dressed as a Greek warrior bearing Victory ( Viktoria ) on his breastplate, the emblems of England, Scotland, Ireland and Saxony at his waist, and a carved shield decorated with St George and the Dragon. The statue had originally been intended for the Queen’s 23rd birthday in May 1842, but was not completed until March 1844. This second version of the statue was modified by the slight lengthening of the kilt and the addition of sandals at Prince Albert’s request. It was installed in the Guard Chamber at Buckingham Palace in January 1849, to accompany the statue of Queen Victoria by John Gibson.

Frederic Leighton (1830-1896), Cimabue’s Madonna Carried in Procession , 1853-5

This huge painting was purchased by Queen Victoria on the opening day of the Royal Academy exhibition in May 1855. The Queen visited the exhibition privately before the public opening and recorded that ‘Albert was enchanted with it – so much so that he made me buy it’. The subject matter is an episode from Vasari’s Lives of the Artists . The Rucellai Madonna altarpiece (then attributed to Cimabue, but now thought to be by Duccio) is carried through the streets of Florence to the church of Santa Maria Novella. Cimabue, wearing white in the centre, leads his pupil Giotto by the hand, while Dante looks on from the far right. Queen Victoria wrote, ‘it is a beautiful painting, quite reminding one of a young Paul Veronese, so bright & full of lights.’ This was the first work by Leighton to be shown at the Royal Academy and reflected his interest in early Italian art. On arrival at Buckingham Palace, it was hung in the Music Room, adjacent to the Picture Gallery.

Duccio di Buoninsegna (active 1278 – before 1319) and assistants, Triptych: The Crucifixion and other scenes , c .1302-8

This three-panelled work served as a portable devotional alterpiece. It was purchased by Prince Albert in 1845 from Ludwig Metzger, a German dealer operating in Florence and was the first undoubted work by Duccio to enter a British collection. For the exhibition it is being re-united with the frame chosen by Prince Albert. This is decorated with delicately carved and gilded vine leaf ornament on an intense blue background. The triptych was hung with the other early Italian pictures in the Prince’s Dressing and Writing Room at Osborne House.

Attributed to Zanobi Strozzi (1412-1468), The Madonna of Humility with Angels , c.1440-50

Prince Albert acquired this painting believing it to be by Fra Angelico, who for English collectors of the time was perhaps the most celebrated and sought- after early Italian painter. It has subsequently been attributed to one of the artist’s associates, Zanobu di Benedetto di Carocci, a member of the important Strozzi family of Florence. As the Madonna of Humility, the Virgin is seated in front of a cloth of honour and holds a white lily as a symbol of her purity. The pink and red roses offered by the angels are attributes of the Virgin as Queen of Heaven. The painting’s mid 19th-century gothic frame was originally decorated in a striking scheme of gold on azure blue, which was devised by the Prince’s artistic adviser Ludwig Gruner. This scheme has been obscured by late 19th-century regilding and has been reinstated for the exhibition.

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553), Apollo and Diana , c.1526

Prince Albert was particularly interested in the work of Lucas Cranach, one of the principal artists of the German Renaissance. Of the 15 paintings by Cranach or his workshop in the Royal Collection, all but three were acquired by Prince Albert. The picture shows the sun god Apollo, admired for his moral standing and physical beauty, and his twin sister Diana, goddess of the moon, who was associated with chastity, archery and hunting. The picture was framed as part of a pair and was initially thought to depict Adam and Eve. It was hung in the Page’s Waiting Room at Osborne House with four other Cranachs.

R. & S. Garrard, manufacturer; Prince Albert (1819–1861), designer; Edmund Cotterill (1795– 1860), modeller, Centrepiece , 1842/3

Prince Albert took a keen interest in design. This Italian Renaissance-style centrepiece was his first collaboration with the firm Garrards and features models of four family pets; Eos, Islay, Cairnach and Waldmann. Both Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were dog lovers. Although the centrepiece is often said to portray the Queen’s favourite dogs, the greyhound bitch Eos was in fact the devoted pet of Prince Albert and appears on several other items in the Royal Collection, including paperweights and inkstands.

South India (Travancore), Throne and footstool, c.1850

The gift of this magnificent throne from the Maharajah Martanda Varma to Queen Victoria was intended both as a tribute to the friendly alliance that had endured between Great Britain and Travancore, and as an explicit and high- profile advertisement for the traditional ivory-carving skills of the region. The throne occupied the centre of the tented Indian section of the Great Exhibition. In 1877 the Queen was proclaimed Empress of India and she chose to be seated on this throne at Windsor for the official photograph.

Elkington, Mason and Co. (1842–1861), manufacturer; Ludwig Gruner (1801–1882), designer, Jewel cabinet , 1851

This elaborate jewel case was commissioned by Prince Albert as a gift for Queen Victoria. Manufactured by one of the royal couple’s favoured manufacturers of the Great Exhibition, the cabinet was conceived by Gruner and combines classical architectural detail with free-standing sculpture and a bold use of colour. Plaques on the front depict the Queen with the young Prince of Wales, Prince Albert in armour and the profiles of the six royal children (excluding Leopold and Beatrice, born after 1851) around the plinth.

S. & P. Erard (active 1780-1960), Grand Piano , 1856

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert played the piano to an advanced level, and a number of pianos could be found at all their residences. At the Queen’s death in 1901, there were 23 instruments in Windsor Castle. This piano was intended as a showpiece and seems always to have stood in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace. The gilded case is painted with monkeys playing trumpets, tambourines and violins, and children engaged in various forms of mischief. The piano was exhibited in the Royal Albert Hall in 1885.

Michael Leonz Wetli (1809-1886), Writing table , 1851

This remarkable piece of Swiss furniture is adorned with carvings of milkmaids, farmers and shepherds in traditional Bernese costume. Two figures are taking part in a form of wrestling known as Schwingen , in which the competitors are not allowed to touch each other’s bodies, only their trousers. The Queen and Prince Albert purchased the desk following its display at the Great Exhibition in 1851. The quality of the carving and skilful use of contrasting wood is of note, as is the ingenious mechanism which allows the table to be used in a sitting or standing position.

Unknown makers, Orange blossom parure , 1839-46

One of the first gifts Prince Albert sent to his fiancée in November 1839 was a gold and porcelain brooch in the form of a sprig of orange blossom, a flower long associated with betrothal. The second brooch and matching earrings were given to Queen Victoria in December 1845. The suite was completed with a wreath, an anniversary gift in February 1846. The wreath incorporates four small enamel oranges, intended to represent the four eldest children – Victoria, Albert Edward, Alice and Alfred. Queen Victoria wore parts of the parure at every anniversary

while her husband was alive.

English, Queen Victoria’s Wedding Brooch , 1840

The day before her wedding, Queen Victoria wrote of a gift from ‘dearest Albert’ – ‘a splendid brooch, a large sapphire set round with diamonds, which is really quite beautiful’. She wore the brooch on her wedding day and on many subsequent occasions. The brooch was probably supplied by a leading London jeweller such as Kitching & Abud or Mortimer & Hunt, both of whom Prince Albert patronised significantly in the early years of his marriage. It reflects the simple style of early 19th-century jewellery, which remained in favour with the Queen well into her reign.

Eugène Lami (1800-1890), designer; unknown maker, Queen Victoria’s Costume for the Stuart Ball , 1851

Queen Victoria asked Eugène Lami to design costumes for her and Prince Albert on the occasion of the 1851 Stuart Ball at Buckingham Palace. Of the Queen’s surviving clothes, this dress is the most sumptuous and glamorous. The silk is almost certainly of French production. The rich brocade of the underskirt was woven in Benares and could have been acquired at the Great Exhibition, which opened six weeks before the ball. The lace copies 17th- century Venetian raised-point needle lace and was probably made in Ireland.

William Edward Kilburn (1818-1891), Queen Victoria, the Princess Royal, the Prince of Wales, Princess Alice, Princess Helena and Prince Alfred , 17 January 1852

William Kilburn opened a photographic studio in early 1847 and become one of the leading photographers in London. In 1852 he made a group portrait of Queen Victoria with her five eldest children. In the exposure the Queen appeared with her eyes closed. In an attempt to remove what she perceived to be an unflattering image, the Queen scratched out her face on the plate. A second version of the portrait was subsequently made.

Roger Fenton (1819-1869), The Queen and Prince Albert, Buckingham Palace (after a Drawing Room) , 11 May 1854

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert first encountered Roger Fenton at the Photographic Society exhibition held in London in early 1854. Fenton was subsequently commissioned to photograph the royal couple and their children, capturing moments of their private and domestic life. On 11 May 1854 Fenton photographed the Queen and Prince Albert immediately after a Drawing Room, a formal ceremony during which members of the public were presented to the Queen. These were the first photographic portraits to show Queen Victoria as monarch, rather than as a wife and mother.