Queen Victoria, Aged 4
Stephen Poyntz Denning (1821-1864)
1823
Oil on canvas
Photograph and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee.
According to the Dulwich Picture Gallery's own site, the little princess was "often to be seen walking in Kensington Gardens." This picture certainly sums up the formality of her early life at Kensington Palace, where her father the Duke of Kent had been granted apartments. (Fortunately, she could play much more naturally and freely in the rolling grounds of Claremont in Esher, Surrey, where she often visited her uncle Leopold —and where a life-size cardboard cut-out of the figure in this painting sometimes stands near the National Trust's entrance.)
Stephen Poyntz Denning served as Curator of the Dulwich Picture Gallery from 1821 to 1864.
References
Art Work Detail" (Dulwich Picture Gallery site). Viewed 5 June 2009.
Last modified 5 June 2009