Watercolours collected by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, an evocative record of their public and private lives together, will go on display at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse from 5 March to 5 September 2021.
Throughout their marriage Victoria and Albert were passionate patrons of watercolour painting and formed a collection of thousands of works. Victoria & Albert: Our Lives in Watercolour will feature 80 of their treasured watercolours, including several by Scottish artists, some of which will be on display in Scotland for the first time.
The watercolours the Queen and her consort acquired together captured moments of significance, from the christenings and birthday parties of the royal children to glittering court balls, views of the cities and landscapes they saw on their travels at home and abroad, and records of the places they lived, such as Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle. The royal couple spent happy evenings together organising their watercolours into albums, as recorded by the Queen in her journal.
The colourful, dynamic watercolours collected by Victoria and Albert illuminate aspects of both Victoria's reign and the royal couple's passions.
