French calf leather album by Maquet, with silver gilt clasps and green watered silk board lining, each leaf having four embossed paper windows, containing 100 albumen cartes-de-visite (RCINs 2915115-2915213). From the 1840s Queen Victoria began to acquire

Portrait Photographs in the Royal Collection

The Royal Family have collected, created and commissioned many portrait photographs

WILLIAM EDWARD KILBURN (1818-91)

Prince Albert (1819-1861)

1848

RCIN 2932487

Prince Albert (1819-61) was fascinated by the medium of photography. He commissioned photographers, collected prints and arranged photograph albums. In 1848, Prince Albert commissioned William Edward Kilburn (1818-91) to take this daguerreotype. Following processing, Kilburn carefully coloured the glass plate with coloured pigments. He added decoration in the form of a blue sky with clouds. The portrait resembles a painted miniature, a medium that fell from popularity following the invention of photography. 

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