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Lot 37
VICTORIA'S PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION Collection of portrait photographs, evidently assembled and arranged by the Queen herself, with captions written on mounts, cut and pasted below (as usual in albums of the period), the majority in the Queen's hand, in the original red morocco gilt photograph box
27 November 2018, 13:00 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £6,875 inc. premium
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VICTORIA'S PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
Collection of portrait photographs, evidently assembled and arranged by the Queen herself, with captions written on mounts, cut and pasted below (as usual in albums of the period), the majority in the Queen's hand, also in many instances signed by the subjects, these including Victoria Duchess of Kent (the Queen's mother), the Queen, Prince Albert and their children, Victoria, Princess Royal and Empress Frederick, Albert Edward (Edward VII), Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold, and Beatrice, plus their spouses and children, and royal servants including John Brown (as listed below); plus a group of loose photographs, many annotated or dated on the reverse by the Queen, the collection contained in its original book-style box bearing the Queen's cypher ('VR' crowned), the spine stamped 'Photographs', red morocco box case, gilt, brass clasps, minor dust-staining etc., folio (c.400 x 310mm.), comprising (in approximately chronological order):
(i) Sheet of five photographs showing the Queen alone (one), the Queen with Albert (two) and Albert alone (two), the top three signed and inscribed on pasted slips: "Victoria R Osborne July 1859"; "Albert & Victoria R 1859"; "Victoria R & Albert. 1860" (dates in the Queen's hand)
(ii) Sheet of five photographs of the Queen's children, with signed and dated slips below each (the date in some cases in the Queen's hand), showing "Arthur and Leopold/ 1859"; "Alfred & Beatrice/ Osbourne July. 1859."; "Alice/ Osborne July 1859"; "Alfred/ August 1859"; "Helena and Louise/ 1859"
(iii) Sheet of five photographs of the Queen's mother and children, signed on slips below by the sitters (excepting the infant Beatrice), showing "Victoria R & Beatrice 1860"; "Victoria [Duchess of Kent]/ Alfred & Alice/ 1860"; "Victoria R & Beatrice/ July 1859"; "Victoria [Duchess of Kent]/ Osborne July 1859"; "Leopold" [King of the Belgians, widower of Princess Charlotte]
(iv) Sheet of five photographs of the Queen's children, all but one with signed slips, showing "Alfred/ April 1860"; "Helena/ 1860"; "Albert Edward"; "Louise/ 1860"; Leopold and Arthur [by Mayall, 1861]
(v) Sheet of eight photographs, all but the bottom three with signed slips, showing "Louis [of Hesse]/ Osborne May 1861"; "Louis & Alice/ Dec: 1860"; "Alice/ 1861"; "Ludwig" [i.e. Louis of Hesse]; "Alice 1860"; Alice alone; Alice with Louis; Albert Edward and Alice [May 1860]
(vi) Sheet of eight photographs of the Queen's eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal, and family, including her eldest son William (future Kaiser Wilhelm II), five with slips signed and inscribed (two by the Queen, three by the Princess Royal), showing "Victoria Pcess of Prussia Pss Royal/ Windsor Castle. March. 1862"; "Victoria Crown Princess of Prussia/ Princess Royal"; the infant William with his mother [?]; "The Pcess Royal and/ the infant Pce William/ March 1859" (in the Queen's hand); Charlotte, Henry and William (the baby Henry between his siblings); Victoria and Crown Princess Frederick [on their honeymoon at Windsor Castle, 28 January 1858]; "Victoria C. Pss of Prussia Pss Royal/ Windsor Castle March 15 – 1862"; William when a boy in sailors costume [1861] inscribed by the Queen "William Prince of Prussia"
(vii) Sheet of five photographs, the central one inscribed by the Queen "Pcess Louis of Hesse/ on her father's Poney [sic]/ 1863", with black attendant [taken at Balmoral]; with four others
(viii) Sheet of eight photographs of the Queen, the upper central photograph [by George Washington Wilson] showing the Queen on her pony Fyvie, the reins held by her Ghillie and personal attendant John Brown, with the head forester John Grant standing to the right [usually cropped in the carte-de-visite versions of this well-known photograph], slip inscribed by the Queen "Victoria R/ Balmoral 1863"; the lower captioned by her "Victoria R & her/ granddaughter Victoria/ Balmoral 1863"; the other six photographs showing her in heavy mourning, one with her collie, Sharp [taken in 1867]
(ix) Group of twenty loose photographs, all seemingly annotated or dated on the reverse by the Queen, including photographs of the "Statue of Prince Consort at Salford – Scul. Noble/ The highest Learning is to be wise/ and the greatest Wisdom to be good"; "Prince Consort/ 1853"; stag trophy "Shot by Pr. Consort/ 1858"; "Prince of Wales/ 1858" (large format 220 x 170mm.); "Royal Family/ Osborne/ 1856"; "Prince & Princess Leineng [[i.e. Leiningen, son of the Queen's half-brother]/ Osborne/ July 1859"; "Princess Alice/ 1857"; "Princess Beatrice/ 1858"; the Queen, her aunt Cambridge and two eldest children [after the daguerreotype by Claudet]; "Press Beatrice/ Pr. Arthur/ Pr. Leopold/ 1858"; a nurse and baby "1857" [Princess Beatrice with ? Mrs Thurston]. etc.; "Princess Louise 1864" (underneath a photograph of Graefle's painting), some minor dust-staining etc., on card
(x) Group of sixteen loose photographs, subjects including the Queen laying a memorial oak to Prince Albert in Windsor Great Park, 1862, and the terrace at Osborne; six being published views by Jabez Hughes of Osborne and the Albert memorial at Ryde
(i) Sheet of five photographs showing the Queen alone (one), the Queen with Albert (two) and Albert alone (two), the top three signed and inscribed on pasted slips: "Victoria R Osborne July 1859"; "Albert & Victoria R 1859"; "Victoria R & Albert. 1860" (dates in the Queen's hand)
(ii) Sheet of five photographs of the Queen's children, with signed and dated slips below each (the date in some cases in the Queen's hand), showing "Arthur and Leopold/ 1859"; "Alfred & Beatrice/ Osbourne July. 1859."; "Alice/ Osborne July 1859"; "Alfred/ August 1859"; "Helena and Louise/ 1859"
(iii) Sheet of five photographs of the Queen's mother and children, signed on slips below by the sitters (excepting the infant Beatrice), showing "Victoria R & Beatrice 1860"; "Victoria [Duchess of Kent]/ Alfred & Alice/ 1860"; "Victoria R & Beatrice/ July 1859"; "Victoria [Duchess of Kent]/ Osborne July 1859"; "Leopold" [King of the Belgians, widower of Princess Charlotte]
(iv) Sheet of five photographs of the Queen's children, all but one with signed slips, showing "Alfred/ April 1860"; "Helena/ 1860"; "Albert Edward"; "Louise/ 1860"; Leopold and Arthur [by Mayall, 1861]
(v) Sheet of eight photographs, all but the bottom three with signed slips, showing "Louis [of Hesse]/ Osborne May 1861"; "Louis & Alice/ Dec: 1860"; "Alice/ 1861"; "Ludwig" [i.e. Louis of Hesse]; "Alice 1860"; Alice alone; Alice with Louis; Albert Edward and Alice [May 1860]
(vi) Sheet of eight photographs of the Queen's eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal, and family, including her eldest son William (future Kaiser Wilhelm II), five with slips signed and inscribed (two by the Queen, three by the Princess Royal), showing "Victoria Pcess of Prussia Pss Royal/ Windsor Castle. March. 1862"; "Victoria Crown Princess of Prussia/ Princess Royal"; the infant William with his mother [?]; "The Pcess Royal and/ the infant Pce William/ March 1859" (in the Queen's hand); Charlotte, Henry and William (the baby Henry between his siblings); Victoria and Crown Princess Frederick [on their honeymoon at Windsor Castle, 28 January 1858]; "Victoria C. Pss of Prussia Pss Royal/ Windsor Castle March 15 – 1862"; William when a boy in sailors costume [1861] inscribed by the Queen "William Prince of Prussia"
(vii) Sheet of five photographs, the central one inscribed by the Queen "Pcess Louis of Hesse/ on her father's Poney [sic]/ 1863", with black attendant [taken at Balmoral]; with four others
(viii) Sheet of eight photographs of the Queen, the upper central photograph [by George Washington Wilson] showing the Queen on her pony Fyvie, the reins held by her Ghillie and personal attendant John Brown, with the head forester John Grant standing to the right [usually cropped in the carte-de-visite versions of this well-known photograph], slip inscribed by the Queen "Victoria R/ Balmoral 1863"; the lower captioned by her "Victoria R & her/ granddaughter Victoria/ Balmoral 1863"; the other six photographs showing her in heavy mourning, one with her collie, Sharp [taken in 1867]
(ix) Group of twenty loose photographs, all seemingly annotated or dated on the reverse by the Queen, including photographs of the "Statue of Prince Consort at Salford – Scul. Noble/ The highest Learning is to be wise/ and the greatest Wisdom to be good"; "Prince Consort/ 1853"; stag trophy "Shot by Pr. Consort/ 1858"; "Prince of Wales/ 1858" (large format 220 x 170mm.); "Royal Family/ Osborne/ 1856"; "Prince & Princess Leineng [[i.e. Leiningen, son of the Queen's half-brother]/ Osborne/ July 1859"; "Princess Alice/ 1857"; "Princess Beatrice/ 1858"; the Queen, her aunt Cambridge and two eldest children [after the daguerreotype by Claudet]; "Press Beatrice/ Pr. Arthur/ Pr. Leopold/ 1858"; a nurse and baby "1857" [Princess Beatrice with ? Mrs Thurston]. etc.; "Princess Louise 1864" (underneath a photograph of Graefle's painting), some minor dust-staining etc., on card
(x) Group of sixteen loose photographs, subjects including the Queen laying a memorial oak to Prince Albert in Windsor Great Park, 1862, and the terrace at Osborne; six being published views by Jabez Hughes of Osborne and the Albert memorial at Ryde
Footnotes
'THE PRINCESS ROYAL & THE INFANT PRINCE WILLIAM' – QUEEN VICTORIA'S FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS, evidently assembled by her and bearing her annotations, as well as those of her children appearing in the photographs.
Queen Victoria, who was not yet twenty when the invention of photography was announced successively by Daguerre and Fox Talbot in January 1835, was one of the most prominent collectors of the new medium, a passion shared with her husband Albert. She was indeed one of the earliest – and arguably most prominent – adapters of the medium; projecting, via the dissemination and mass-circulation of commercial-produced cartes-de-visite photographs, the image of the happy middle-class respectable family (see Anne M. Lyden, A Royal Passion: Queen Victoria and Photography, 2014).
It is recorded that at their first meeting as prospective bride-and-groom, the Queen brought up the subject of Daguerre's new invention to allay her nervousness in talking to her German cousin (whom she had met but once before, when much younger). And when their union was formed, they spent much time together assembling photograph albums; a hobby she turned to again in her widowhood to help allay her loneliness. The present collection is especially valuable in that it bridges the period between 1859 – when Albert was still alive – and her widowhood in the 1860s. Indeed, so potent were photographs to her as memorials of lost happiness, that several are known to have been buried with her; including one of her beloved John Brown – who also features in the present assemblage – which was placed, just before the sealing of the coffin, in her left hand.
The present collection was clearly once in the royal collection; some dispersals from which were made in the early-to-mid 1970s, anonymously, at Sotheby's. The typescript list prepared by the eminent autograph dealer Winifred A. Myers, which accompanies the lot, dates from about this period. It was acquired from her by the present owner's family.