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Queen Victoria

7 of 548 portraits of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria, by Aaron Edwin Penley, circa 1840 -NPG 4108 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Early Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Queen Victoria

by Aaron Edwin Penley
circa 1840
16 in. x 13 3/8 in. (405 mm x 340 mm) uneven
NPG 4108

Inscriptionback to top

Signed in pencil (lower right): A. Penley.
Inscribed on a label, formerly on the back of the picture: Queen Victoria, by Aaron Penley: c.1840./Painted from sittings, and bought by the Queen. On/the artist's marriage to Caroline Turner the portrait was/presented to him by the Queen, framed as it is. Caroline/Turner was sister of my great-grandmother Charlotte Amelia,/Mrs Chambers. Her son Claude Penley married my/great-aunt Eliza Steegman, and from him my father/ acquired the portrait./John Steegman, 1935.
Inscribed in ink on the original backboard, in an old hand: ... 77 ... [other letters or numbers not legible]/Her Majesty the Queen/Painted in 1840/by/[Aar]on Penley

This portraitback to top

The technique is that of a miniaturist. The bust on the pedestal represents Prince Albert. A letter from the donor of 27 January 1959 (NPG archives) confirms the history of the miniature.

Referenceback to top

NPG Annual Report, 1959-60 (1960), p 1.

Steegman 1958
J. Steegman, 'Aaron Penley: A Forgotten Water-Colourist', Apollo, LXVII (1958), 14.

Physical descriptionback to top

Fresh complexion, blue eyes, brown hair. Dressed in a black dress with a white lace neck, white handkerchief, pearl and gold bracelets. Leaning on a grey pedestal, with a grey bust on it, and a red pot. Behind at left a gilt and red plush chair with the monogram 'VR' in gold. Red curtain behind with a gold border. Small area of background at left greyish-green.

Provenanceback to top

As on the label above, presented by J. Steegman, 1959.

Reproductionsback to top

J. Steegman, 'Aaron Penley: A Forgotten Water-Colourist', Apollo, LXVII (1958), 15, with the date 1841.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Ormond, Early Victorian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1973, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

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