"Les Deux Petits Savoyards"

Hand-coloured photograph of a full length group portrait of four of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's children. The group face the camera, standing. The children are dressed in costumes for a performance of 'Les Deux Petits Savoyards', given on 16 January 1854. From left to right: Princess Alice as Jose, Prince Alfred as Michel, Victoria, Princess Royal as La Marquise de Verneuil and Princess Helena as Clermont.

This was Roger Fenton's first commission for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The photograph was taken on 23 January 1854, a week after the performance. 'Les Deux Petits Savoyards', an one-act 'opera-comique' was composed by Nicolas-Marie Dalayrac and was first performed in 1789.