Footnotes

Provenance: Lord Fortiviot, his sale of the contents of Dupplin Castle, Scotland, c. 1968.

Following the betrothal of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, to Princess Alexandra of Denmark in September 1862, Queen Victoria decided that her eldest son would benefit from some company with her eldest daughter and accordingly arranged a Mediterranean cruise during October and November. The Queen placed the royal yacht 'Osborne' at the party’s disposal and on 22nd October, the Prince of Wales, his sister Victoria and her husband Frederick (the Prussian Crown Prince and Princess) and their suites sailed from Marseilles. On 9th November, the day on which the Prince of Wales attained his 21st birthday, the royal party was in Naples where vessels of the Mediterranean fleet decided to mark the occasion in the customary fashion. The two ships were ‘dressed overall’ with signal flags and ensigns and, as the royal party approached at noon, the visitors were greeted by the spectacle of ‘manning the yards’ whereby the sailors stood in uniformed lines along the ships’ yards by way of a ceremonial salute.

The two ships principally involved in this colourful celebration were the 'London' [a 92-gun Second Rate built at Chatham in 1840 and later converted to a screw ship in 1858] and the 'Doris' [a 32-gun screw frigate built at Pembroke in 1857]. The Prince of Wales and his fellow guests all declared themselves delighted with this traditional naval welcome and the event, together with details of the subsequent dinner party that evening, was fully reported in the 'Illustrated London News' of 29th November [1862]; the article, on the front page of the periodical, was also accompanied by a picture “from a sketch by Mr. Charles R. Ricketts.”

The original engraving, which appeared on the cover of the 'Illustrated London News' is followed closely by the oil painting offered for sale here although greater attention is given to the bay and harbour of Naples. The other most significant alteration is in the standard flown by the royal party’s longboat in that the engraving showed the flag of Prussia whereas this has been changed to a British Royal Standard in the oil painting.

The early history of this picture is unclear; it is possible that Queen Victoria requested Ricketts to produce a painting because she had been absent from the event but knew of it from the attractive engraving in the 'Illustrated London News'. This does not however explain the time-lag between the event and the painting’s date which remains something of an enigma.

Sir John Dewar, the Scotch whisky magnate and later Lord Fortiviot, was a close friend of the Prince of Wales and it is possible that the Prince gave him this painting in return for some service rendered or simply as a gesture of friendship.