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Queen Victoria

Photograph
ca. 1860s (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Charles Clifford took the portrait in this photograph on 14 November 1861 at Windsor Castle. Queen Victoria (ruled 1837–1901) noted in her Journal that she had ‘dressed in evening dress, with diadem & jewels’ and was ‘photographed for the Queen of Spain by Mr Clifford. He brought me one of hers, taken by him’. The queen wears mourning for her mother, the Duchess of Kent, who had died on 16 March 1861. A copy in the Royal Photograph Collection shows her dress coloured purple. If accurate, this image might be one of the last of the queen wearing a colour, since her husband, the Prince Consort, died a month later.

According to Frances Dimond, Curator of the Royal Photograph Collection, this image ‘seems to be a trial-proof of a copy of the portrait, preserved for no known reason, and now an object with its own oblique interest’. The photograph gives us an oblique view into the large-scale industry by which portraits of royalty were made and sold (by the 100,000) in the 1860s.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleQueen Victoria (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen-silver print
Brief description
A photograph showing, positioned obliquely within the rectangular sheet, a portrait of Queen Victoria. The odd angle of the portrait suggests that it was a trial proof made prior to a large edition for sale in the popular carte de visite format.; 19thC; Anon, Portrait of Queen Victoria
Physical description
Albumen-silver print
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 10.8cm
  • Sheet width: 19cm
The image of Queen Victoria is printed - tilted at an angle - within the rectangular sheet.
Style
Production typeCopy
Production
This is a photograph of a photograph, perhaps a trial proof. The original has been identified by Frances Dimond, curator of photographs at the Royal Archive, Windsor Castle. The original was taken by Charles Clifford (British, c.1820-63), photographer to Queen Isabella II of Spain. Clifford photographed Queen Victoria for the Queen of Spain on 14 November 1861.

Reason For Production: Private
Subject depicted
Place depicted
Summary
Charles Clifford took the portrait in this photograph on 14 November 1861 at Windsor Castle. Queen Victoria (ruled 1837–1901) noted in her Journal that she had ‘dressed in evening dress, with diadem & jewels’ and was ‘photographed for the Queen of Spain by Mr Clifford. He brought me one of hers, taken by him’. The queen wears mourning for her mother, the Duchess of Kent, who had died on 16 March 1861. A copy in the Royal Photograph Collection shows her dress coloured purple. If accurate, this image might be one of the last of the queen wearing a colour, since her husband, the Prince Consort, died a month later.

According to Frances Dimond, Curator of the Royal Photograph Collection, this image ‘seems to be a trial-proof of a copy of the portrait, preserved for no known reason, and now an object with its own oblique interest’. The photograph gives us an oblique view into the large-scale industry by which portraits of royalty were made and sold (by the 100,000) in the 1860s.
Collection
Accession number
PH.60-1985

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Record createdJanuary 5, 2004
Record URL
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