Prince Albert played a leading role in nineteenth-century British cultural life. One particular initiative he championed was the use of fresco painting – closely associated with celebrated Italian Renaissance artists such Raphael and Michelangelo – to decorate the new Houses of Parliament, rebuilt 1840-70.

To facilitate an opportunity to practise this unfamiliar medium, in 1844 the Prince commissioned eight leading British artists to decorate a newly-built garden pavilion at Buckingham Palace with frescoes illustrating scenes from John Milton’s masque Comus.