Queen Victoria and Prince Albert: Study for "Windsor Castle in Modern Times"

This sketch probably represents some early ideas for the oil painting by Landseer 'Windsor Castle in Modern Times', also in the Royal Collection. The figure of the Queen is close to the figure in the finished picture. The Prince, however, is sketched in a standing position (he is seated in the finished version) and in ordinary clothes, not sporting dress, with the ribbon of the Garter just indicated. The pale blue background behind the Queen may suggest an outdoor setting and the couple seem to be looking at a parrot on a stand lightly sketched on the left. The Queen had been anxious to purchase the sketch when the sale of Landseer’s pictures was being organised. Jessie Landseer asked if the Queen would like the figure of the Prince ‘made a little more apparent by my Brother or any other artist’. ‘Better not’ was the Queen’s reply.

Inscribed on the back: SKETCH FOR THE PICTURE, IN WINDSOR / CASTLE BY SIR EDWIN LANDSEER.