Queen Victoria (1819-1901) Reigned 1837-1901

Location

Country: Japan
City: Tokyo
Place: British Embassy

This copy of the first state portrait of Queen Victoria to be painted by Frans Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873) shows the young queen at just 24. Winterhalter was one of the favourite artists of Victoria and she was reportedly delighted with this work and with a companion portrait of her husband, painted at the same time. The original works remain in the Royal Collection.

Franz Xaver Winterhalter was one of Queen Victoria’s favourite artists. Born in Menzenschwand, Germany, he settled in Paris in 1834. He was introduced to Queen Victoria by her uncle, Leopold King of the Belgians. Between 1843 and 1871, Winterhalter carried out a vast number of royal commissions in England, spending six to seven weeks there each summer, where he painted chiefly at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. Winterhalter left Paris to live in Karlsruhe in 1871. Two years later, news of his death in Frankfurt, the result of typhus, reached Queen Victoria. ‘With all his peculiarities,’ she wrote to her eldest daughter, ‘I liked him so much’.

People

Victoria (1819 - 1901)

Places

Subjects

royal portrait, woman, ceremonial costume, robe, bracelet, necklace, earring, riband, livery collar, throne, sceptre, crown, Queen, window, table cloth, curtain, table (as Subject)

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Franz Xaver, (After) Winterhalter

Title

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) Reigned 1837-1901

Date

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 115.00 cm, width: 80.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Mrs S C Conner, June 1964

GAC number

6499