Landscape, Architecture and Travel

The earliest album Victoria and Albert collected related to the landscape genre was William Henry Fox Talbot’s Sun Pictures of Scotland, printed privately in 1845. An especially important acquisition was an album of photographs by Édouard Baldus that was presented to Victoria and Albert as a memento of their state visit to France from the 18th to 27th of August 1855. The gifting of photographs albums became a symbolic act when building diplomatic friendships. The exchange of photographs albums could also be a deeply personal gesture of love and affection. Prince Albert’s native Coburg features prominently in his photographs collection. On arrival in England, Albert greatly missed his hometown and Victoria was sensitive to this homesickness. In 1857, she commissioned Francis Bedford to travel to Coburg to photograph the places associated with Albert’s childhood. The resulting album was given to Prince Albert as a birthday in August 1857.