James Roberts (c. 1800-67)
Windsor Castle: The King's State Bedchamber drawn 1855
Watercolour and bodycolour with gum arabic | 26.0 x 36.3 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 919796
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A watercolour depicting a detailed interior view of the bedroom prepared for the state visit of Emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie at Windsor Castle in 1855. Perhaps a copy by Corden after Roberts.
Lying on the north side of the Star Building in the Upper Ward of the castle, the King's Bedroom was one of the eight rooms in the King's State Apartment created by Hugh May for Charles II in the late 1670s.
The original ceiling painting by Verrio, portraying Charles II in triumph, was replaced by Wyatville in the 1830s with a plaster ceiling modelled with heraldic devices, and an eighteenth-century white marble chimneypiece from Buckingham House was introduced. Further changes took place in 1854-5 when, at Queen Victoria's wish, the King's and Queen's State Apartments were elaborately redecorated and refurnished by the firm of J.G. and J.D. Crace for the visit of the Emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie. The Craces introduced luxurious new silk for walls, curtains and upholstery; new fitted carpets and new gilding and colouring in the ceilings. For the Empress's bedroom, red walls and carpet were complemented by new green and purple silk (the imperial colours) for the bed hangings; and these were enriched with panels of late eighteenth-century embroidered flowers probably taken from the throne canopy in George III's Audience Room nearby. The bed itself, attributed to Georges Jacob, was almost certainly acquired for Carlton House by George IV through Dominique Daguerre and was transferred to Lady Conyngham's bedroom at Windsor after refurbishment by Morel & Seddon in 1827. Among the paintings introduced to the room when it was adapted for the use of the Empress was the Claude View of the Campagna; the Riesener commode of French royal provenance was moved to the room at the same time.
Catalogue entry from Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London 2002Provenance
Commissioned by Queen Victoria (£12)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Watercolour and bodycolour with gum arabic
Measurements
26.0 x 36.3 cm (sheet of paper)
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
RL 19796Alternative title(s)
Windsor Castle: the bedroom prepared for the Empress Eugénie