Physical description
This painting depicts one of the most moving and private moments on the intricate five hour long medieval state ceremony. Immediately after the supreme moment of the Homage when she was presented to the people, she took off her Royal Crown and kneeling in her elaborate dalmatic robe, stiff with golden eagles, testified by receiving the sacrament to her personal Christian faith.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
Date
1838 (made)
Artist/maker
Charles Robert Leslie, born 1794 - died 1859 (painter (artist))
Materials and Techniques
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Height: 45.7 cm unframed, Width: 61 cm unframed
Object history note
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857. By Charles Robert Leslie RA (born in London, 1794, died there in 1859)
Descriptive line
Oil painting, 'Queen Victoria in her Coronation Robes', Charles Robert Leslie, 1838
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990, pp. 173-74
The following is the full text of the entry:
"LESLIE, Charles Robert, RA (1794-1859)
Born London 19 October 1794, eldest son of American parents, with whom he went to Philadelphia 1799. Apprenticed to a publisher 1808, received a few lessons in painting from Thomas Sully. A subscription was raised to enable him to study art in Europe; returned.to London 1811, entered RA Schools and studied with Benjamin West and Washington Allston. Visited Paris 1817 with Allston and Wilkie Collins, met G S Newton, with whom he visited Brussels and Antwerp. Also friend and biographer (published 1843) of John Constable. Exhibited 76 works at the RA between 1813 and 1859, and 11 at the BI 1815-32. Some were portraits, but most were his much admired literary subjects, particularly drawn from Cervantes, Moliere, Shakespeare and Steme. Elected ARA 1821, RA 1826. Several of his works were engraved, and he made six illustrations for Sir WaIter Scott's Waverley novels 1824. Worked for six months as drawing master at West Point Military Academy, New York State, 1833. Professor of Painting at RA 1848-52; his lectures were published as a Handbook for Young Painters (1855). His Life of Reynolds was finished by Tom Taylor and published 1865. Died St John's Wood, London, 5 May 1859. An exhibition at the RA of 30 of his works was held winter 1870. His two sons, George Dunlop and Robert, were also artists. The Athenaeum critic (9 May 1846, p480) wrote that he was 'unrivalled for the certainty of his powers, the wit of his pencil, the deep knowledge of human nature as exhibited in the more ordinary scenes of life'.
LIT: Art JournaI1856, pp73-5 and 105-7, 1859, p187 (obit); C R Leslie Autobiographical Recollections ed T Taylor, 2 vols, 1860; J Dafforne Pictures by C R Leslie nd [1875]; Art ]ournaI1902, pp 144-8; J Constable The Letters of John Constable and C R Leslie 1931; ed R B Beckett John Constable's Correspondence III, Ipswich 1965
Queen Victoria in her Coronation Robes
FA129 Neg 59256
Canvas, 45.7 X 61 cm (18 X 24 ins)
Sheepshanks Gift 1857
A sketch for the large (94 X 185.4 cm/37 X 73 ins) painting 'Queen Victoria Receiving the Sacrament after her Coronation' exhibited at the RA in 1843 (74) and now in the Royal Collection. The Coronation took place on 28 June 1838; in July the Queen 'heard that Leslie contemplated a Coronation picture. She sat to him in November, 1838, and December ... The picture was finished early in 1839'. But, according to a letter of 16 June 1839 quoted in Leslie (II, p253), the picture was not yet finished; it is recorded as completed in a letter of 19 December 1839. Leslie described the Coronation in a letter to his sister of 24 July 1838, quoted in Leslie II, pp237-9 but incorrectly dated to 1837.
The RA catalogue gave details of the subject and the principal figures; these were amplified in C Collins Baker's Catalogue of the Principal Pictures in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. The painting was engraved by S Cousins in 1843. The Athenaeum (20 May 1843, pp492-3) thought the picture:
Must rank as History, but it is unavoidably History treated in the genre style. The difficulties of the subject have been met, and in great part overcome, with taste and judgement, and the profile of the Queen is one
of the best likenesses we have seen of Her Majesty; the colouring beautiful, bright and harmonious - colour is one of Leslie's excellencies.
The Art Journal (1843, p163) thought:
The merits of this picture place it among the highest of its class; the artist has succeeded in wrapping the scene in a holy interest …an appropriate effect is produced by a beam of light which descends towards the altar. . . the figures of the young Queen and her maids of honour are as graceful, ideal, and beautiful as the most poetic fancy could desire…
The present work is a sketch for the figure of the Queen kneeling at the alter in Westminster Abbey. The beams of light admired by the Art Journal illuminate the altar and the figure of the Queen, a device used later by the photographer Cecil Beaton; Leslie suggests the Divine Right to the throne. and perhaps the presence of God at the moment of Holy Communion.
According to Collins Baker, it was Lord Melbourne who introduced Leslie to the Queen, 'emphasising his superiority to [Sir George] Hayter:
EXH: Exposition Universelle Paris 1855 (867, lent by Sheepshanks)
LIT: (the RA picture) Leslie I, pp165-71, II, pp244-45; Dafforne pp6-7
Ronald Parkinson"
Labels and date
British Galleries:
The artist shows the 18-year-old Queen kneeling at the altar in Westminster Abbey for her coronation on 20 June 1837. By setting the young Queen in her glowing coronation robes against the sombre background of the Abbey, he emphasised the heroic role that she was taking on. [27/03/2003]
Materials
Oil paint; Canvas
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Victoria, Queen; Chalice; Communion; Costume, Ceremonial Robe
Categories
British Galleries; Royalty; Christianity; Paintings
Collection code
PDP
