Queen Victoria

This portraitback to top

Produced to coincide with Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in June 1897, Nicholson based his portrait on a photograph of the Queen wearing a bonnet decorated with ostrich feathers. In contrast to recognised modes of royal portraiture, she is depicted here without the trappings of state, standing alone and unadorned. The artist at once illustrates the stoicism and fragility of her final years, and the woodcut earned him critical acclaim. Writing for the Daily Mail, Joseph Pennell remarked: 'I have yet to be shown a painting of Her Majesty worthier of a place in our National Portrait Gallery than this little colour print'.

Events of 1899back to top

Current affairs

George Nathaniel Curzon, Lord Curzon, is appointed Viceroy of India, pursuing a mixed policy of forceful control and conciliation. Curzon's inquiries into Indian administration result in legislation in areas including education, irrigation, and policing. The Board of Education is created to co-ordinate the work of higher grade elementary schools, county technical schools and endowed grammar schools, also setting up a register of teachers.

Art and science

The Italian Guglielmo Marconi transmits the first wireless telegraph, between France and England across the English Channel, a distance of 32 miles. Marconi's production of waves over long distances lays the foundations for the development of the radio. Later this year, Marconi demonstrates his invention in America, at the Cup yacht race, and for the American navy.

International

Outbreak of the second Boer war, fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Despite a disastrous start, Britain quickly won the war, although guerilla warfare continued until 1902, leading to the introduction of concentration camps by British commander Lord Kitchener, a measure which contributes to the British public's growing disillusionment with the campaign.

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