A Royal Passion: Queen Victoria and Photography at the Getty Museum
Portrait of Queen Victoria Holding Portrait of Prince Albert, negative July 1854; print 1889, Bryan Edward Duppa and Gustav William Henry Mullins, carbon print
The Prince and the Queen, 1854, Roger Fenton, salted paper print, hand-colored. Royal Collection Trust
In 1839, just two years after Victoria became queen of Great Britain and Ireland, the medium of photography was announced to the world. This exhibition explores the relationship between the new art form and the queen, whose passion for collecting photographs began in the 1840s. On display are rare daguerreotypes, private portraits of the Royal Family, and a selection of prints by early masters of photography.
Over the course of her long reign, the queen was photographed as loving mother, devoted wife, grieving widow, and powerful sovereign. She was the first British monarch to have her life fully recorded by the camera, and her portraits became emblematic of an entire age.
This show runs February 4–June 8, 2014 at the Getty Center
J. Paul Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1687
Phone: +1 (310) 440-7330
E-mail: (for general Museum inquiries)gettymuseum@getty.edu
By Jim McKinniss
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