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1 of 253523 objects
Sir William Ross (1794-1860)
Victoria, Princess Royal dated 1841
Watercolour | 24.2 x 18.5 cm (whole object) | RCIN 913776
Sir William Ross (1794-1860)
Victoria, Princess Royal dated 1841
Sir William Ross (1794-1860)
Victoria, Princess Royal dated 1841
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A watercolour portrait of Victoria, Princess Royal, as a baby, seated and wearing a white dress with blue ribbons. Signed, dated and inscribed at the bottom of the sheet: W.C. Ross delt / 1841 / Victoria. Formerly framed as an oval.
Victoria, Princess Royal, was the Queen and Prince's first child, and was born 21 November 1840 at Buckingham Palace. Painted the following year, this is among the first of a large series of drawings by Ross of the royal princes and princesses as children. It is very close to RCIN 913775, a watercolour of the infant princess painted by Ross in April 1841; Queen Victoria recorded in her journal that she watched Ross making 'such a pretty painting' of her daughter on 27, 28 and 20 April. In the other portrait, which was engraved by R.J. Lane and H.J. Ryall, published 1 December 1841 (see RCIN 605970 for an impression of this print), the baby wears a different bonnet and the ribbons are pink rather than blue.
Sir William Ross was a highly successful miniature painter, appointed Miniature Painter to the Queen in December 1837 and knighted in 1842. Queen Victoria particularly admired Ross's ability to catch a likeness, and in addition to miniatures also commissioned many independent watercolours and drawings of her own children and her relations and their offspring. On his death in 1860, the Princess Royal wrote to her mother 'No one will ever paint with such brilliancy and freshness again ... he was such a good kind simple hearted old man ... I shall never forget his funny voice and ways.' (RA Z/9/22/28 January 1860). Later that year Victoria and Albert leant 40 miniatures from their collection by Ross to a retrospective of his work.Provenance
Presumably commissioned by Queen Victoria or Prince Albert; on 17 May 1841 Ross was paid 20 gns for 'the original drawing' of the Princess Royal (RCIN 913775) and 10 gns for a copy, perhaps this work
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Watercolour
Measurements
24.2 x 18.5 cm (whole object)
Other number(s)
RL 13776
