Gifted: from the Royal Academy to The Queen

Among the treasures of the Royal Collection is the wealth of prints, drawings and watercolours stored in the Print Room of the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. This collection of works on paper is famed for its holdings of historic and old master drawings, particularly from the Renaissance and baroque periods.

It is perhaps therefore surprising to learn that the graphic art collection also includes drawings by important twentieth-century artists, acquired for instance by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and by Queen Mary. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation and subsequent Jubilee celebrations have also been occasions for important gifts from institutions and individuals alike. Foremost among these has been the Royal Academy of Arts, of which Her Majesty is Patron.

On the occasion of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the Academicians presented a collection of more than 100 works on paper, representing their respective fields of painting, sculpture, architecture and printmaking. The variety of media used in the creation of many of these works is remarkable; acrylics, screen prints, collages, monotypes, inkjet prints and an iPad drawing now share the space occupied by the historic collection of drawings in the Print Room at Windsor Castle.

Included in the gift are several works by sculptors such as Phillip King, Cornelia Parker and Anish Kapoor. While the works do not relate directly to finished sculptures, these prints and drawings represent intriguing connections to the artists’ three-dimensional oeuvres.

All the works presented by the Royal Academy were exhibited in the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace in 2013. This selection is representative of the overall visual impact of the 2012 gift. In many cases these works challenge expectations of what a drawing can be, providing a fascinating contrast to the carefully crafted figurative works which typically constitute the historic drawings collection at Windsor Castle.