Queen Victoria

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Queen Victoria

by James Bromley, after Sir George Hayter
mezzotint, published 1834 (1833)
16 3/8 in. x 12 1/8 in. (415 mm x 307 mm) paper size
Given by William Roberts, 1940
Reference Collection
NPG D33567

Sitterback to top

  • Queen Victoria (1819-1901), Reigned 1837-1901. Sitter associated with 548 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 5 portraits.

Artistsback to top

  • James Bromley (1800-1838), Mezzotint engraver. Artist or producer associated with 11 portraits.
  • Sir George Hayter (1792-1871), Portrait and history painter; son of Charles Hayter. Artist or producer associated with 198 portraits, Sitter associated with 16 portraits.

This portraitback to top

To emphasise Princess Victoria's qualities as an exemplar of young womanhood, artists revived the idealised imagery generated to commemorate Princess Charlotte, customarily depicting her as the 'Rose of England'. Sir George Hayter's appealing portrait of Princess Victoria best illustrates this connection. Posed gracefully with her hair formally dressed in a fashion reminiscent of the style preferred by Charlotte, she picks up the rose by her side. The significance of this image of her early self was retrospectively confirmed, when, on the occasion of her Jubilee, it was reproduced as a newspaper supplement with the celebratory inscription 'Our future Queen'.

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1834back to top

Current affairs

Sir Robert Peel, Tory, replaces Whig Lord Melbourne as Prime Minister, promising measured reform in a shift from reactionary 'Tory' to more measured 'Conservative' politics (he had voted for the 1832 Reform Act).
Trial of Tolpuddle Martyrs, six labourers transported to Australia after trying to raise funds for workers in need by forming a Friendly Society.

Art and science

Charles Babbage's invents the Analytic Machine. Considered to be the forerunner to the modern computer, the machine was able to make automatic mathematical calculations.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton publishes his hugely popular, but now largely neglected, novel Last Days of Pompeii, set in the Italian city at the time of Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79AD.

International

Dom Miguel I, King of Portugal, is defeated by his brother Pedro IV, in the Portuguese civil war.
Slavery is abolished in the British dominions, although slaves still working are indentured to their former owners in an 'apprenticeship' system; the philanthropist Joseph Sturge was a prominent critic of the policy, which was abolished in 1838. Whilst slave owners received compensation, slaves received nothing.

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