A watercolour showing a coastal landscape. Possibly executed under the tutelage of WL Leitch. A beach is shown in the foreground, with the sea shown to the left. Trees and hills are shown along the coast to the right.

From the age of eight Queen Victoria received regular lessons in drawing and watercolour from professional artists including Richard Westall (1765 – 1836) and Edward Lear (1812 – 88). However, it was the Scottish landscape painter William Leighton Leitch (1804 – 83) with whom she had the most enduring relationship, as he taught her for 22 years. Before teaching Queen Victoria, Leitch had established an impressive reputation as an art tutor, with his pupils including the Duchess of Buccleuch, the Duchess of Sutherland and Queen Victoria’s lady-in-waiting Charlotte Canning.