Red White and Blue
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, c.1863-7
After William Theed
A life-size, full-length plaster cast portrait of Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince Consort, wearing Anglo-Saxon dress. Prince Albert is shown standing, with his right arm raised, with his right index pointing upwards and wearing a belted tunic and a long cloak gathered on his right shoulder. The skirt of the tunic has an embroidered pattern around the border showing the initials ‘V’ and ‘A’. Queen Victoria is shown wearing a crown over a short veil and standing by Prince Albert’s left side, looking upwards towards him, with her right hand resting on his left shoulder and with her left hand held by his left hand. The cloak arranged over her long dress has an embroidered border showing a lozenge pattern, with the national symbols of Britain alternating inside the lozenges, and with a sequence of crowns on the outside.
This model is believed to be a preparatory work for the marble sculpture of the same subject that was commissioned by Queen Victoria from William Theed (1804-91) and finished c. 1867. The marble version, Queen Victoria noted in her diary, was the idea of the Crown Princess Frederick, Princess Royal and it is believed she also conceived the idea of the Saxon costume.
[Royal Collection Trust]
Inside the National Portrait Gallery
Red White and Blue
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, c.1863-7
After William Theed
A life-size, full-length plaster cast portrait of Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince Consort, wearing Anglo-Saxon dress. Prince Albert is shown standing, with his right arm raised, with his right index pointing upwards and wearing a belted tunic and a long cloak gathered on his right shoulder. The skirt of the tunic has an embroidered pattern around the border showing the initials ‘V’ and ‘A’. Queen Victoria is shown wearing a crown over a short veil and standing by Prince Albert’s left side, looking upwards towards him, with her right hand resting on his left shoulder and with her left hand held by his left hand. The cloak arranged over her long dress has an embroidered border showing a lozenge pattern, with the national symbols of Britain alternating inside the lozenges, and with a sequence of crowns on the outside.
This model is believed to be a preparatory work for the marble sculpture of the same subject that was commissioned by Queen Victoria from William Theed (1804-91) and finished c. 1867. The marble version, Queen Victoria noted in her diary, was the idea of the Crown Princess Frederick, Princess Royal and it is believed she also conceived the idea of the Saxon costume.
[Royal Collection Trust]
Inside the National Portrait Gallery