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1 of 253523 objects
Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-73)
Victoria, Duchess of Kent (1786-1861) Signed and dated 1857
Oil on canvas | 62.1 x 51.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406883
Red Saloon, Kensington Palace
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Winterhalter was born in the Black Forest where he was encouraged to draw at school. In 1818 he went to Freiburg to study under Karl Ludwig Schüler and then moved to Munich in 1823, where he attended the Academy and studied under Josef Stieler, a fashionable portrait painter. Winterhalter was first brought to the attention of Queen Victoria by the Queen of the Belgians and subsequently painted numerous portraits at the English court from 1842 till his death.
The Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria's mother, was 70 years old when this portrait was painted and she wrote in her diary 'It is a great penitence for me to sit for my picture, but it is for Victoria. It made me very tired.'
Signed and dated: Fr Winterhalter / London 1857.Provenance
In the possession of Queen Victoria, either painted for her or given to her by the sitter; recorded hanging in the Queen's Dressing Room (Room no 213) at Windsor Castle in 1878
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
62.1 x 51.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
Category
Object type(s)
