Queen Alexandra
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Queen Alexandra
by Alexander Bassano
bromide print, 5 May 1881
5 7/8 in. x 4 1/4 in. (149 mm x 108 mm) overall
Given by Bassano & Vandyk Studios, 1974
Photographs Collection
NPG x137236
Sitterback to top
- Queen Alexandra (1844-1925), Queen of Edward VII. Sitter associated with 478 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 10 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Alexander Bassano (1829-1913), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 2805 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Photographed in the conservatory at Marlborough House in full dress for Queen Victoria's Drawing Room. The sitting was described in The Times, 25 June 1881.
Placesback to top
- Place made and portrayed: United Kingdom: England, London (conservatory, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London)
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Alexander Bassano: Victorian Photographer (From 25 March 2013)
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1881back to top
Current affairs
Benjamin Disraeli dies of bronchitis. He refuses a state funeral and is buried next to his wife, Mary Ann Viscountess Beaconsfield.Gladstone's Irish Land Act is passed in a bid to stop violence carried out by the republican Land League, conducted in protest at the 1870 Land Act.
Henry Mayers Hyndman forms the Marxist Democratic Federation.
Art and science
The Natural History Museum is opened on Exhibition Road, South Kensington. The museum, a landmark gothic design by the architect Alfred Waterhouse, was built to house specimens from the natural sciences, previously in the British Museum's collection. Today, the museum comprises of over 70 million items, and is a world-renowned research centre.International
Alexander II is assassinated in a bomb attack by members of a left-wing revolutionary movement. He was succeeded by his son, Tsar Alexander III.US President James Garfield is shot by Charles Guiteau.
The first Anglo-Boer war ends. The war is started by a Boer uprising, as the British had annexed the Transvaal in 1877. Following Britain's defeat at the Battle of Majuba Hill, a truce is signed giving the Boers self-government and later independence.
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