Library and billiard room in the old house at Balmoral

Hand coloured photograph of The Library and Billiard Room in the old house at Balmoral. A billiard table stands in the centre of the room with a candleabra suspended directly above it. The table is flanked by bookshelves on the left and right side and a large mirror with a clock set in front of it is in the background.

Prior to its demolition in 1856, the Aberdeen artist James William Giles (1801-70) was commissioned by Queen Victoria in August 1855 to record the four principal rooms in the old Balmoral Castle. The watercolours he produced were subsequently considered too large and Wilson was asked to photograph and print them in a smaller size. Giles was then asked again to hand colour the photographs to replicate the original, larger watercolours.