William Leighton Leitch (1804-83)
Barton Farm, Osborne c.1850
Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour | 30.8 x 46.0 cm (whole object) | RCIN 919878
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A watercolour view of Barton Farm, with the figure of Queen Victoria, having left her painting equipment by her stool (in the left foreground) with a lady in waiting, seen being escorted towards the house by a figure in Highland dress.
Barton Farm was a building on the Osborne estate, which was acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1845. They built Osborne House between 1845 and 1851 as a private family home, designed by Albert himself in the style of an Italian palazzo. Queen Victoria described it as their "sweet seaside home" (Queen Victoria's Journal, 26 August 1850). The artist William Leighton Leitch taught the Queen and, later, the royal children and Princess of Wales watercolour painting, and often visited Osborne to do so.
This watercolour was originally mounted in View Album IV. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert compiled nine View Albums during their marriage. These albums contained watercolours and drawings documenting their life together and were arranged in chronological order. The albums were dismantled in the early twentieth century and rebound in new volumes both in a different arrangement and with additional items, but a written record of their original contents and arrangement still exists.Provenance
Acquired by Queen Victoria and mounted in View Album IV -
Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour
Measurements
30.8 x 46.0 cm (whole object)
Other number(s)
RL 19878