Queen Victoria

Sitterback to top

• Queen Victoria (1819-1901), Reigned 1837-1901. Sitter associated with 444 portraits, Artist associated with 5 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Louis Haghe (1806-1885), Lithographer and watercolour painter. Artist associated with 6 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The documentation of the wearing of fancy dress became a standard part of this artistic tradition, as it prolonged the transformative power of the masquerade. Accordingly, an artist, believed to be Louis Haghe, was called upon to detail the theatrical appearance of the royal couple in eighteenth-century dress at their bal poudré of 1845. Similarly, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, would provide, in the queen's words an 'excessively pretty' watercolour sketch of them flamboyantly attired in French court dress at the restoration ball they held in 185. Their evident enjoyment of fancy dress was related to their private love of theatre, and another fashionable pastime - the construction of tableau vivant, in which the royal children wore costumes to re-enact pictorial scenes.

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Chairs
• On display at the Gallery