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Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Photograph

1968 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Beaton, Cecil (Sir) (photographer)
Place of origin
Buckingham Palace (photographed)

Royal Portrait by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980). One of twelve contact print photographs. Depicting Queen Elizabeth II in an interior, Buckingham Palace, 1968. Wearing a crown and a dark cape decorated with a brooch and a ribbon, in this frame she has been photographed against a pale backdrop. The scene is revealed to a viewer by a narrow panel of space at the edge of the image, where it is possible to see past the backdrop, into the room beyond. Part of a ladder is also seen, propped just behind the paper backdrop.

Object details

Categories
Photographs
Portraits
Royalty
Object type
Photograph
Materials and techniques
photography
Paper
Gelatin Silver Process
Photography
Brief description
Royal Portrait by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980). One of twelve contact print photographs. Depicting Queen Elizabeth II in an interior, Buckingham Palace, 1968.
Physical description
Royal Portrait by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980). One of twelve contact print photographs. Depicting Queen Elizabeth II in an interior, Buckingham Palace, 1968. Wearing a crown and a dark cape decorated with a brooch and a ribbon, in this frame she has been photographed against a pale backdrop. The scene is revealed to a viewer by a narrow panel of space at the edge of the image, where it is possible to see past the backdrop, into the room beyond. Part of a ladder is also seen, propped just behind the paper backdrop.
Dimensions
  • Image width: 5.6cm
  • Image height: 5.8cm
  • Paper width: 30.3cm
  • Paper height: 25.9cm
Gallery label
(2012)
Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace
1968

The sitting did not begin well: ‘At first the effects of the lights were a disaster. Nothing went right. I took pictures to cover up my frustration. Each way she turned was worse than the last. The lights dead … Then suddenly she turned to the left and the head tilted, and this was the clue to the whole sitting – the tilt. I kept up a running conversation, trying to be funny, trying to keep the mirth light.’

Gelatin silver contact sheet
V&A: Ph.2016-1987
Credit line
Bequeathed to the Museum in 1987 by Eileen Hose, secretary to the photographer
Production
Cecil Beaton photographed members of the royal family from 1930-1979.
Subject depicted
HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Place depicted
Buckingham Palace
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
PH.2016G-1987

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Record createdDecember 16, 2010
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1176608/photograph-beaton-cecil-sir/
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