Four Generations (Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII) and King George V)

1 portrait of King Edward VII

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© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Four Generations (Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII) and King George V)

by Sir William Quiller Orchardson
oil on canvas, circa 1897
21 in. x 28 in. (533 mm x 711 mm)
Purchased, 1967
Primary Collection
NPG 4536

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Artistback to top

  • Sir William Quiller Orchardson (1832-1910), Portrait and subject painter. Artist or producer associated with 5 portraits, Sitter associated with 19 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This is a study for a large painting by Orchardson, commissioned by the Royal Agricultural Society in 1897 and called 'Four Generations - Windsor Castle’ (now in the Government Art Collection). It shows an elderly Victoria with her son, grandson and great-grandson, the future kings Edward VII, George V and Edward VIII. The young Edward VIII wears a dress, the practice for upper-class small boys during the period, and presents a bouquet to his great-grandmother. The theme of ‘four generations’, emphasising the healthy state of British royal lineage, became extremely popular, particularly with royal photographers whose images were widely distributed as postcards. According to the artist’s daughter, Orchardson wished to paint Victoria as the woman of ‘intense family affections’ rather than as the ‘Great Queen’.

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Events of 1897back to top

Current affairs

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee is marked by a series of celebratory events, and attended by eleven colonial prime ministers following the Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain's proposal that the Jubilee be made a festival of the British Empire.
The Workmen's Compensation Act gives workmen a right to a limited compensation in every case of injury by accident arising from the course of employment; it is a landmark piece of legislation in employment law.

Art and science

Bram Stoker's Dracula is first published.
Henry Tate of the Tate and Lyle sugar company donates his art collection to the nation, buying land and building a gallery space for it (now Tate Britain).
Physician and psychologist Havelock Ellis publishes the first volume of his Studies in the Psychology of Sex, and the English physicist John Thompson discovers the existence of the electron.

International

The burning of Benin city by Britain takes place, known also as the Punitive Exhibition of 1897. The excursion, led by Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, was a response to an attack by Benin warriors on a British delegation sent to settle a dispute over customs duties collected by British traders. During the expedition the British Admiralty destroyed much of the city's treasured art, including the Benin Bronzes, auctioning off the rest as war booty to recoup costs.

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