Victoria and Albert - Art and Love

Victoria and Albert - Art and Love is the major exhibition taking place at The Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace for 2010 and features some of the artworks collected by both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert during their life together.

Victoria and Albert
Focusing on the romantic nature of their gifts and their passion for art, Victoria and Albert - Art and Love is a fantastic chance to see art from the Royal Collection, much of which has never been seen before. Over 400 works are included in the exhibition, which attempts to celebrate the royal couple's passion for art and challenge the image of Victoria as a mournful widow.

Art and love
From the period of their engagement to the unexpected death of Prince Albert, the Queen and her spouse exchanged gifts of art to express their love for one another. On show at the Victoria and Albert - Art and Love exhibition are paintings by favourite artists, sentimental jewellery and art within specially commissioned frames, all of which were exchanged by the pair as tokens of love.

Royal Academy art
Much of the work on show at the Victoria and Albert exhibition comes from their purchases from the Royal Academy shows in the 1850s. Both art lovers were keen on seeing work by new and upcoming artists and frequently made purchases. While Prince Albert was keen on Raphaelesque style work, such as The Madonna and Child by William Dyce, Queen Victoria was more mainstream in her tastes with pictures like Ramsgate Sands: Life at the Seaside by Wiliam Powell Frifth.

Personal pictures
Some of the most personal paintings on display at the Royal Collection exhibition focus around the Royal Family itself. The German painter Franz Xaver Winterhalter was the artist to produce the largest number of royal commissions, working for Victoria and Albert for over 20 years. On show at the Victoria and Albert - Art and Love exhibition you can see plenty of formal portraits of their traditionally large Victorian family, as well as an intimate picture of Victoria herself painted as a surprise gift for Prince Albert's 24th birthday.

Sculpture, photography, fashion and architecture
As the Prince was a great fan of the many different artistic skills, there are also works by photographers of the day included in the exhibition, along with many of the sculptures that resided at their Isle of Wight residence, Osborne House. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live at Buckingham Palace, and consequently many alterations were made to the interior design during her lifetime. Many balls were held there, and a highlight of the Victoria and Albert - Art and Love exhibition is the inclusion of the most sumptuous of Victoria's ballgowns, which was designed by Eugene Lami in 1851. Also on show at the exhibition are stunning items of jewellery, such as the diamond encrusted brooch worn by Victoria on her wedding day.

Victoria and Albert - Art and Love takes place from 10am - 5.30pm, Friday 19th March - Sunday 5th December 2010 at The Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace. If you would like to book tickets for this event, click on the link below or phone 020 7766 7301 for more information.

Other London events

Art and Love Exhibition London

Royal Wedding London

Royal Wedding Bank Holiday

Toy Boats at National Maritime Museum

Gauguin Exhibition London

Venice Exhibition London

Enchanted Palace Exhibition London

Quentin Blake at House of Illustration

Eadweard Muybridge at Tate Britain

Serge Diaghilev and Ballets Russes Exhibition

Fit for a King Exhibition

Egyptian Book of the Dead Exhibition

Cult of Beauty Exhibition

Illustrated Fashion at Design Museum

Exposed at Tate Modern

Venice Exhibition London

Ministry of Food Exhibition

Japanese Fashion at Barbican

Late Night Exhibitions London

London Exhibitions 2010

Museum Exhibitions London

Art Exhibitions London

Queens Diamond Jubilee London

Queens Jubilee London

Queens Jubilee Bank Holiday Events

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