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Exhibition

Victoria & Albert: Art & Love

Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Queen Victoria (detail), 1843 ©
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The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace

  • Daily (Friday, 19 Mar 2010 - Sunday, 5 Dec 2010)

This exhibition is the first ever to focus on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s shared enthusiasm for art.

Bringing together more than 400 items from the Royal Collection, it celebrates the royal couple’s mutual delight in collecting and displaying works of art, from the time of their engagement in 1839 to the Prince’s untimely death in 1861.

The exhibition also challenges the popular image of Victoria – the melancholy widow of 40 years – and reveals her as a passionate and open-minded young woman.

 

Exhibition highlights

Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-73)

The Royal Family in 1846

Prince Albert, Prince Consort, consort of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (1819-61)

Centrepiece

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)

Apollo and Diana

Edward Henry Corbould (1815-1905)

The Woman taken in Adultery
Explore the exhibition

Explore the exhibition

This miniature was painted soon after Prince Albert's return to Coburg on 14 November 1839 having accepted Queen Victoria's proposal of marriage. The Queen recorded a sitting of 1 hour 40 minutes on 26 November, 'for a picture for dearest Albert'; and on
Portraits

According to an often recounted legend from the life of Raphael (1483-1520), a hermit, having been attacked by wolves, hides in a tree and is saved by a vintner’s daughter. In gratitude the hermit prophesises that both the tree and the girl will be
The Age of Exhibitions

In the centre is Saint Sebastian, the Roman officer shot for his Christian beliefs. He is nude save for a loin-cloth and tied to a Corinthian column which forms part of a fragmentary triumphal arch. Arrows pierce him and his torment is being observed by s
Prince Albert and the History of Art

A watercolour depicting guests ascending the stairs on arrival at the ball, including Ladies in waiting. The men wear uniforms or Scottish dress. Four large portraits are on the walls, together with decorated reliefs and stencils. Signed.<br> <br>The Fren
Victoria and Albert Residences

A large watercolour showing Queen Victoria and Prince Albert ascending Lochnagar on horseback, on the Balmoral estate, accompanied by the royal children, their governess Miss Bulteel and a number of gillies. Signed and dated bottom left: Carl Haag 1853.
Balmoral and the Highlands

Grand piano with gilded and painted surface by François Rochard in polychrome colours with singeries and Berainesque motifs. Mouldings and rim of piano of bronze, chased and gilt. Supported on three incurving cabriole legs of gilded wood with heavy
Music, Theatre and Entertainment

This jewel cabinet is a proud dynastic statement incorporating the Queen’s favourite image of the Prince, the Royal and Saxe-Coburg arms, and portraits of their six children born before 1851. Designed in the form of a large reliquary, the cabinet wa
Furniture

This figure of Lady Godiva was purchased by Queen Victoria and presented to Prince Albert on his birthday, 26 August 1857. It was modelled by the French sculptor Pierre-Emile Jeannest, who worked for both Minton and Elkington. At the Great Exhibition h
Metalwork

A Parian porcelain figure group; a woman seated to the left holding a child who reaches for a bunch of grapes held by a seated young man; wearing classical dress; set on rocky outcrop with flowers and fruit, a dog lying in foreground; oval base. Queen Vi
Ceramics

In the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 Bahadur Shah (1775-1862), nominally the last Mughal emperor and King of Delhi, was deposed and exiled to Burma, and the involvement of the East India Company in the government of India ceased. The official end
State Jewellery

At the end of the Indian Rebellion and the transfer of government in India to the British Crown, Queen Victoria suggested to Lord Canning (the first Viceroy) the creation of a new Order as a means of cementing the newly established political power of the
Insignia

Eagle brooch of turquoise; ruby eye and diamond beak, the whole set in silver with gold claws holding pearls. This is one of the brooches given to each of the twelve ladies - unmarried daughters of the nobility - who carried Queen Victoria's train at her
Personal Jewellery

Leather leaves painted in watercolour, bodycolour and gold, over graphite under-drawing, with letters spelling VICTORIA linked by swags of ribbon, in the centre a roundel with two angels and a ribbon inscribed MAY 24th 1856, cornucopia and crown beneath,
Textiles, Fans and Accessories

This Book of Common Prayer was given to Victoria on her wedding day by her mother the Duchess of Kent, and was the companion volume to the green velvet prayerbook bestowed upon Prince Albert by his future mother-in-law. The binding was decorated with Vict
Books

A watercolour showing the Exhibition building, with the royal carriages drawn up in front of the entrance. The Mounted Band of the 11th Hussars is visible in the left foreground. The Dublin Exhibition of Irish Industry was organised by the railway entrep
The Souvenir Albums

A watercolour depicting a number of statues in the Belgian section of the Great Exhibition, including the plaster cast of the bronze statue of Godfrey de Bouillon by Eugène Simonis, which still stands in the Place Royale in Brus
Great Exhibition

Photograph showing a full length portrait of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) and Prince Albert (1819-61), photographed at Buckingham Palace. Queen Victoria stands in right side profile and wears formal court dress. Prince Albert stands in left side profile, ho
Photography

In January 1852 the six eldest royal children appeared in a performance of August von Kotzebue's 1803 comedy, Der Hahnenschlag (The Cockshy). Queen Victoria wrote of the performance, of which the closing scene is recorded in her painting: ‘The stage
Royal Artists

Prince Albert Victor (1864-92), the eldest son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and his wife Alexandra, was born on 18 January 1864. On 22 February E.H. Corbould, who was at the time fully engaged by the Queen on memorial projects of various kinds, was p
Memorial to Prince Albert

Map & directions

The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, SW1A 1AA
 DIRECTIONS VIA GOOGLE MAPS
By train

London Victoria.  Visit National Rail Enquiries for times and fares.

By underground

Victoria, Green Park, St. James's Park and Hyde Park Corner.  For further information visit the Transport for London website.

By coach / bus

Bus numbers 11, 211, C1 and C10 stop on Buckingham Palace Road.  Victoria Coach Station is a 10-minute walk from the Palace.  For further information visit the Transport for London website.

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Official Royal Residences

The income from your ticket contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Royal Collection Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities.