Princess Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1822-1916) Signed and dated 1861
Watercolour on ivory laid on card | 5.3 x 4.4 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 420300
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The source for Hanstein's miniature is recorded in an engraving by Carl Mayer of c.1863. Mayer's engraving may have been taken from one of the two portraits of the Grand Duchess painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-73) c.1843 and in 1849 (current location of both unknown; see Winterhalter 1987 – 8, pp. 230 – 1).
Hanstein's miniature shows the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz wearing a pale-grey evening dress, pearl necklace, and the Cambridge sapphire tiara with diamond earrings.The tiara formed part of a magnificent suite of sapphires including a necklace and bracelet belonging to the Grand Duchess's mother, Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, and was subsequently left to her niece, Queen Mary.
Princess Augusta of Cambridge, eldest daughter of Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, seventh son of George III, and of Princess Augusta, daughter of Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, married, in 1843, Frederick William, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who succeeded his father in 1860. They had one surviving son who became Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Provenance
First recorded in the Royal Collection in 1885
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Watercolour on ivory laid on card
Measurements
5.3 x 4.4 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
6.5 x 5.6 cm (frame, external)
5.1 x 4.2 cm (sight)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Cust 1910 : Cust, L., 1910. Windsor Castle: Portrait Miniatures, London – Cust 1910 18/11Vic Min : Remington, V., 2010. Victorian Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen – Vic Min 507RL 1881 : Holmes, R., 1881. Inventory of Miniatures: Royal Library Windsor Castle – RL 1870 1881 12-xvi