Etchings that Victoria and Albert hid from public go on display
Artistic talents of royals evident in drawings of family life that were banned from publication
THEY were deeply personal etchings that caused a scandal, requiring Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to legally block pictures of their baby daughter and home life going on show without their permission.
Now, a secret volume of those images, presented to Prince Albert’s loyal private secretary in thanks for his evidence in court, is to be displayed for the first time after being given back to the Royal family as a wedding present.
A rare volume of 74 etchings, personally annotated by Victoria and given to George Anson, is to be displayed at Harewood House and includes images by Victoria and Albert of their children, pets and one another.
The album includes a picture by Queen Victoria of her daughter Princess Victoria at three months old, sitting in an elaborate baby gown as she plays with a ball, and again at ten months as she is starting to crawl.
She was the first daughter of Queen Victoria and became the Princess Royal. A handwritten annotation by Queen Victoria says it’s of Princess Vic “shown at 3 months old – drawn from nature and etched by VR 1841”.
The young Prince Albert Edward is seen playing with a rabbit in another, with the royal children’s bath time brought to life in a picture of them before bed.
One page sees Victoria draw her husband’s portrait, while another shows their first-born being cradled and fed by her mother.
A series of pet portraits show etchings of the Royal dogs, including the Queen’s favourite Skye terrier Islay, her dachshund Waldman and Albert’s loyal greyhound Eos.
Other pictures include imitations of well-known artists and works, including Albert’s copy after Agostino Carracci’s Eagles and Lucas Cranach’s Portrait of Frederic the Wise.
The album was given to former occupants of the house, the 6th Earl of Harewood and Princess Mary, on their wedding day, with a note from Mr Anson’s family asking them to keep it secret from the public and omit it from the official list of wedding presents.
The pictures, innocent by today’s standards, caused uproar in 1849.
Then, despite being intended for Victoria and Albert’s personal records, they were seized by Jasper Judge, a journalist, who got hold of copies of the etchings via a printmaker in Windsor and approached publisher William Strange to plan an exhibition and catalogue. Learning of the approach, the royals launched a lawsuit attempting to ban the display and protect their family’s privacy.
An affidavit by Anson, which helped them win their case, states “distinctly the belief of the Plaintiff, that the catalogue and the descriptive and other remarks therein contained, could not have been compiled or made, except by means of the possession of the several impressions of the said etchings surreptitiously and improperly obtained”.
Victoria and Albert won their case, which is said to remain a defining judgment in the development of the law of copyright.
While the court case infuriated the royals with its intrusion into their privacy, it also drew public attention to their artistic talents. Shortly afterwards, The Lady’s Newspaper published instructions on etching, pondering whether readers may wish to follow Victoria’s example.
The exhibition runs until October 29.
‘The pictures, innocent by today’s standards, caused uproar in 1849 ’