Prince Albert

Physical description

Oval porcelain plaque painted with a portrait of Prince Albert, after the picture by Winterhalter painted in 1846. The Prince is depicted wearing a dark brown coat or robe, with a white waistcoat, a white cravat, a greenish blue ribbon across his breast on which he wears the star of an order and a bright red necktie.

Place of Origin

Stoke-on-Trent, England (made)
London, England (painted (images))

Date

1870
ca. 1870

Artist/maker

Moody, Francis Wollaston, born 1824 - died 1886 (teachers)
Minton & Co. (probably, maker)
South Kensington Porcelain Class (painters (artists))

Materials and Techniques

Porcelain, with painted decoration

Dimensions

Height: 58.5 cm, Width: 50.0 cm

Descriptive line

Oval porcelain plaque painted with a portrait of Prince Albert, after the picture by Winterhalter painted in 1846. English, 1870. The plaque was made by Minton & Co. and deorated by the students of the South Kensington Porcelain Class.

Exhibition History

RCA 175th Anniversary (Royal College of Art 15/11/2012-03/01/2013)
RCA Centenary Exhibition (Royal College of Art 01/01/1996-31/12/1996)

Labels and date

Like many portraits of Albert, this potrait of the late Prince Consort is based on the painting by Winterhalter painted in 1846. All these are half-length portraits showing the Prince in profile, but they differ in the style and formality of his dress. Executed by the female students of the Porcelain Class at South Kensington, under the direction of Francis Wollaston Thomas Moody (1824-86), the designer of the casket made to hold Prince Albert's season ticket to the Great Exhibition (Exhibition no. 32), this tile portrait may possibly have been intended for insertion in one of the galleries being built in the Museum at this time. The South Kensington Porcelain Class, which was supplied with blanks by Minton & Co., painted the Minton tiles which decorate the Grill Room, or Poynter Room, as it is now called after its designer, Sir Edward James Poynter (1836-1919) in the V&A. Porcelain classes, where porcelain blanks were painted with glaze decoration, became very popular for middle and upper class women during this period, and the trend continued into the early twentieth century. [Unknown]

Associated names

Prince Albert

Production Note

The plaque, supplied by Minton & Co., was painted by the female students of the South Kensington Porcelain Class, under the direction of F.W. Moody.

Materials

Porcelain

Techniques

Painting (image-making)

Subjects depicted

Albert Francis Augustus Charles Emmanuel (Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Consort of Queen Victoria of Great Britain,)

Collection code

CER