Highlights from the print collection
An introduction to the print collection of the Royal Collection
The Coved Ceiling of the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican by Raffaelle d’Urbino
from Grüner’s Specimens of Ornamental Art, London, 1850RCIN 852609
Prince Albert met the engraver Ludwig Grüner in Rome in 1839, the year before the Prince married Queen Victoria, and in 1841 Grüner arrived in London to serve as Albert’s artistic adviser. He was a pioneer in the rapidly developing technique of chromolithography, seen most spectacularly in his volume Specimens of Ornamental Art, which presented the 'best models' of decorative art from the Classical era to the Renaissance. As with photography, Prince Albert embraced this new medium, and initiated or supported several illustrative projects employing chromolithography.