Queen Victoria (1819-1901) Reigned 1837-1901

Location

Country: France
City: Paris
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’.
William Corden, painter, was born in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. He was apprenticed at the china works in Derby, painting onto china services until 1820, when he began work at the Coalport pottery in Shropshire. By 1824, he had moved to London and begun exhibiting at the Royal Academy. He settled in Windsor by 1836 and, in 1838, drew Queen Victoria on the East Terrace of Windsor Castle. He later painted several life-size copies of paintings in the Royal Collection for the Queen and, in 1844, Prince Albert arranged for him to visit Coburg to copy his family portraits. Corden worked at the Staffordshire potteries from 1854 on an unsuccessful project to combine enamelling and photography. He died in Nottingham at the age of 69.

People

Victoria (1819 - 1901)

Places

Subjects

statue (as Subject), royal portrait, woman, 19th century costume, ceremonial costume, robe, dress, ring, bracelet, necklace, riband, tassel, livery collar, sceptre, crown, Order of the Garter, Queen, Corinthian, column, curtain, carpet, chair, table (as Subject)

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Franz Xaver, (After) Winterhalter
William Corden (1797 - 1867)

Title

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) Reigned 1837-1901

Date

1847

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 272.50 cm, width: 172.00 cm

Acquisition

Commissioned 1847

Provenance

Copy of Winterhalter's State Portrait of 1843, commissioned from William Corden for British Embassy, Paris 1847

GAC number

0/801