Gorey Castle, Jersey dated 1860
Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour | 46.2 x 32.5 cm (whole object) | RCIN 920248
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A watercolour view of the castle, on a rocky promontory on the east coast of the island, with a sleeping man and fishing tackle in the foreground. Inscribed, signed and dated at bottom left: Gorey Castle, Jersey / RP Leitch, 1860.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the castle on 3 September, 1846, during their first trip to Jersey. Thirteen years later, in August 1859, the royal yacht anchored off the same coast for the night. This watercolour, painted a year later, was one of the three views of Jersey and Guernsey by Leitch painted "according to the Queen's requests" (as stated in the record of payment), meaning that Victoria probably stipulated the subjects. See also RCINs 920249 and 920247.
Richard Principal Leitch was the son of the royal watercolour tutor William Leighton Leitch, who taught Queen Victoria, her daughters and her daughter-in-law Princess (later Queen) Alexandra for almost twenty years.
This watercolour was originally mounted in View Album VIII. 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
Commissioned by Queen Victoria
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour
Measurements
46.2 x 32.5 cm (whole object)
Other number(s)
RL 20248