Search results

Start typing

COLLECTION STORY

The patronage and collecting of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

The arts were a great shared passion of Victoria and Albert

Detail from Hayter's painting of Victoria and Albert's marriage, showing the pair holding hands at the alter with onlookers in the background

The Print Room [was] the favourite resort of my dearest Albert

Queen Victoria, journal entry, 10 March 1862

These words were written by Queen Victoria in March 1862. Then, as now, the Print Room at Windsor Castle housed the superb collection of Old Master drawings, prints and miniatures, inherited by Queen Victoria on her accession. In her journals, Victoria reflects on the many hours that she and Prince Albert spent with the many treasures of all kinds housed in the royal residences, studying and organising the collection and incorporating objects that they themselves had acquired or commissioned.

The arts were a significant shared passion of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and they were active as collectors, patrons, curators and promoters across a breadth of disciplines, from works on paper to paintings, architecture and sculpture, decorative arts, photography, industrial design, music and literature. Both were also talented amateur artists and musicians, and their taste and knowledge of the arts was underpinned by practical experimentation.

RELATED EXHIBITION
Victoria & Albert: Art & Love
The first exhibition to focus on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s shared enthusiasm for art

The income from your ticket contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Royal Collection Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities.