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Queen Victoria's Palace
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ROSA KOBERWEIN (ACTIVE 1876-86)

Marianne Skerrett (1793-1887)

signed and dated 1880

Chalks on buff paper | 67.2 x 52.3 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 917950

A head and shoulder portrait, in coloured chalks, of Marianne Skerrett, Head Dresser and Wardrobe Woman to Queen Victoria. She is turned to the left, wearing a cap with a dark frill and a brooch on the collar of her dress. Signed and dated.

Marianne Skerrett, was appointed Head Dresser and Wardrobe Woman to Queen Victoria on 1 October 1837. She was a niece of the Treasurer to Queen Charlotte. When she died at the age of 94, 'in full possession of her faculties', the Queen wrote: 'She came to me at my accession, & was most useful at the head of my Wardrobe, ordering everything, looking over my bills &c, & arranging with the different artists. She was quite a superior person, very clever, read enormously, had an intense passion for animals, & was a great friend of Landseer's, & of many of the artists. She was very shrewd & plain spoken, very devoted & attached to me and mine.' (Journal 4 Aug 1887)

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