Prince Albert's Dressing Room, Osborne House

In his Writing and Dressing Room, on the first floor of Osborne House, Prince Albert displayed his collection of early Italian paintings. Following the purchase of Osborne in 1845, designs for the decoration of its principal rooms were provided by Ludwig Grüner, the Prince's artistic adviser. However, arranging and displaying the paintings was Prince Albert's prerogative. Although he was not the first to collect these types of pictures or to display them systematically, there were not many comparable rooms in English country houses at this moment.

Panels in this trail such as Zanobi Strozzi's The Madonna of Humility with Angels and the Master of the Misericordia, Calvary; and the Madonna with Eight Saints can be seen hanging in Roberts' watercolour. In order to create a harmonious display, Albert had both paintings re-framed in matching gold and bright blue, a colour closely associated with the Virgin. Reflected in the mirror, it is also possible to make out the gabled frame of the Triptych attributed to the workshop of Jacopo de Cione.