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Victoria Day

The Artwork of Queen VictoriaVictoria Day, a federal Canadian public holiday that honors the birthday of Queen Victoria, falls on May 18 this year. Today, we observe this May holiday with a feature about the artwork of Queen Victoria. There is a discussion, some trivia questions with answers, and links to some of her work.

Preparation and How-To’s

• Print copies of the activity for the group. Pictures can be printed or displayed on the computer or television during the activity.

• Read the discussion and encourage participants to engage with discussion and trivia questions.

• Check the links in the article for examples of her work and the Additional Activities section for more ideas or information to bring to the activity.

The Artwork of Queen VictoriaQueen Victoria is widely regarded as the subject of the most paintings in royal history, but what many people may not know is that she was also a prolific artist in her own right. She became dedicated to the creation of art during her childhood, and later in life, she benefited from enthusiastic support and encouragement from her husband, Prince Albert. She was also the beneficiary of tutoring from some of the best Victorian artists, but her natural talent cannot be denied.

Throughout her life, Victoria became quite accomplished at painting with watercolors as well as ink and pencil sketching. Her watercolors have been described as “subtle yet rich,” and her black-and-white sketches are done with a style that is at once expressive and austere. Her pieces range in subject from portraits of family members to landscapes and convey her perspectives gleaned from both travel and domestic life.

Among the queen’s works is a watercolor portrait of her eldest son, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. Painted in 1843, it depicts him in full-length wearing a child’s dress of the style typically worn by young boys in that era. It is blue and red with gold buttons and a frilled collar. He holds a colorful ball in an outstretched hand, and an equally colorful parrot is perched on the seat of a nearby chair.

Around that same time, Queen Victoria also sketched a pencil study of her own face and a watercolor of two children named Archie and Annie MacDonald, who were the young children of Prince Albert’s hunting attendant. They are shown in the painting at the royal kennels with two dogs. A landscape watercolor she did about a decade later, in 1854, depicts scenery on the road to Balmoral Castle.

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Discussion Starters

• Did you know that Queen Victoria was a prolific artist?

• Have you ever seen any of her work?

• Have you ever done any sketches or watercolor paintings?

Victoria’s Family Drawings Auctioned

Three of the queen’s rare family drawings were part of an auction in Gloucestershire last summer. The items consisted of two watercolors and a pencil drawing. The first watercolor is of Edward, Prince of Wales, and his brother Prince Alfred at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The brothers are handsomely dressed and carry butterfly nets. A second watercolor is of Victoria’s grandson Prince Friedrich as a baby with a rattle grasped in his hands. The third item is a pencil drawing of the queen’s eldest daughter, Victoria, the Princess Royal. She is depicted in this work as a water nymph.

The Victoria and Albert Museum

Known as the world’s leading museum of art and design, the V&A Museum in London was founded in 1852. Named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who were both dedicated patrons of the arts, it is the world’s largest museum of applied and decorative arts and houses a permanent collection of well over two million objects. Let’s enjoy a few trivia questions about the V&A.

Trivia Q & A

1. At what event was the museum, which was originally called the South Kensington Museum, renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum?

Answer: It was renamed at the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone for new buildings by Queen Victoria in 1899.

2. What did Queen Victoria really want the museum to be called?

Answer: She wanted it to be called the Albert Museum.

3. The V&A was the first museum in the world to collect this emerging medium as art (beginning in 1856). What was it?

Answer: Photography

4. What item exhibited at the museum so offended Queen Victoria that it was altered when dignitaries visited?

Answer: A full-size plaster cast of Michelangelo’s “David,” which was fitted with a suitably proportioned fig leaf and hung on the figure by a pair of hooks. Today, the fig leaf is no longer used.

5. True or false? Many of the V&A’s collections belonged to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Answer: False. Contrary to popular belief, hardly any of the museum’s collections belonged to them. A notable exception is a famous series of paintings, the “Raphael cartoons,” loaned by Queen Victoria and still on loan from the present queen.

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Additional Activities

1. Check out this video about the recreation of Queen Victoria’s and Prince Albert’s watercolor album containing watercolors they commissioned.

2. Here is another video about an art exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace.

3. Enjoy a 10-minute tour of some of the most popular halls in the V&A with this charming video.

©ActivityConnection.com – The Artwork of Queen Victoria (Pictures)