Victoria & Albert: Art & Love

This exhibition is the first ever to focus on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's shared enthusiasm for art. Bringing together more than 400 items from the Royal Collection, it celebrates the royal couple's mutual delight in collecting and displaying works of art, from the time of their engagement in 1839 to the Prince's untimely death in 1861.

The exhibition also challenges the popular image of Victoria – the melancholy widow of 40 years – and reveals her as a passionate and open-minded young woman.

Loving Gifts
Around a third of the objects in the exhibition were exchanged as gifts between the couple to mark special occasions. They range from the simple and sentimental, such as a set of jewelry in the form of orange blossom, to superb examples of early Italian painting.

Personal Taste
Prince Albert's taste was influenced by his German ancestry and his experience as a student in Florence and Rome. He led a revival of interest in early German and Italian painting at a time when 'the Primitives' were largely ignored. Among his acquisitions were Duccio's Triptych, the first acknowledged work by the artist to enter an English collection, and Apollo and Diana by Lucas Cranach. Albert was also interested in how paintings were displayed, and several of the pictures in the exhibition are shown in the frames he commissioned for them.

The Queen's tastes were more mainstream than those of her husband. She appreciated the narrative qualities of pictures such as Ramsgate Sands: 'Life at the Seaside' by William Powell Frith. Her fondness for portraiture is shown through paintings and drawings of her family, and her own sketches of her children.

Royal Academy
The royal couple were regular visitors to the annual Royal Academy exhibition and frequently made purchases. In 1855 Victoria bought Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession by Frederic Leighton, the first work by the artist to be shown at the Academy. I'm a huge fan of Leighton's Flaming June so am looking forward to seeing this painting in particular.

Other paintings were acquired during visits to artists' studios, while George Cruikshank's The Disturber Detected was bought in an unfinished state when it was sent on approval to Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace
Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live at Buckingham Palace. Under the direction of the Prince's artistic adviser, Ludwig Gruner, the Palace's State Rooms were expanded and decorated in colorful neo-Renaissance style. In the new Ballroom, Victoria and Albert enjoyed private performances of favorite operas and hosted costumed balls. Guests were encouraged to commission elaborate fancy dress in support of the declining Spitalfields silk industry. The exhibition includes the most sumptuous of Queen Victoria's surviving dresses, designed by Eugène Lami for the 1851 Stuart Ball.

Franz Xaver Winterhalter
The German painter Franz Xaver Winterhalter received by far the greatest number of royal commissions. Over two decades of patronage, he produced numerous formal portraits, such as The Royal Family in 1846 (described as 'sensual and fleshy' by one contemporary critic) and The First of May 1851. He was also entrusted with more private work. In 1843 Victoria commissioned 'the secret picture' from Winterhalter as a surprise for her husband's 24th birthday. The artist presents the Queen in an intimate pose, leaning against a red cushion with her hair half unravelled from its fashionable knot (see above).

Photography
Victoria and Albert were important patrons and collectors of the new art of photography, and lent their support to the Photographic Society, which was established in 1853. They commissioned hundreds of photographs of their family, friends and Household, and used the medium to record places they had visited together.

The Great Exhibition
Prince Albert's abiding interest was the marriage of good design with new manufacturing techniques. In 1850 a royal commission was established, with the Prince as its chairman, to organize an international exhibition celebrating technological and artistic accomplishments. Housed in Sir Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park, 'The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations in 1851' was perhaps Albert's greatest achievement.

The royal couple lent many pieces to the Exhibition, and the Queen spent some £4,000 on works of art. Among her purchases were porcelain by Sèvres and Minton, sculpture and furniture, including an extraordinary carved writing table of Swiss manufacture. The Directors of the East India Company presented Victoria with a dazzling selection of jewels from the Indian section of the Exhibition. Among them were the 352.5-carat Timur Ruby and three spinels, which the Queen had set into a necklace by Garrards.

What a wonderfully romantic exhibition! To think that these incredible artworks were mostly token of deep love just makes the world seem like a better place. Queen Victoria was quite clearly besotted with her husband and he guided her well to understand the art world. It's no surprise she lost her confidence after his death as he was her 'everything'.

I had just visited the newly reopened Leighton House so was thrilled to see Leighton's Cimabue's Madonna Carried in Procession, 1853-5 as it is such a huge painting and was Leighton's first exhibited work, bought by Queen Victoria at a preview at the Royal Academy.

I was amazed to discover Queen Victoria had an annual budget of only £2,000 to buy art, and she often spent it on Albert's choices. These insights make this exhibition fascinating and well worth visiting more than once so do take advantage of the fact your ticket is actually an annual pass. I definitely want to go back again.

Visitor Information

Venue: The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace

Dates: 19 March – 31 October 2010

Opening Hours: Daily 10am – 5.30pm (last admission 4.30pm). Closed 2 April.

Tickets: Advance tickets from www.royalcollection.org.uk or 020 7766 7301.
Top Tip:If you buy tickets directly from the Royal Collection and return to The Queen's Gallery free of charge for a year. Simply register on the first visit.
Free audio guide included with every admission.

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