'Prince Albert'

Glass plate negative showing one of the memorial busts of Prince Albert (1819-61) made by William Theed, which Queen Victoria (1819-1901) commissioned after the death of her husband in December 1861.

William Theed was one of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's favourite artists. Two weeks after the death of Prince Albert, Theed was engaged to begin work on a bust of the Prince with uncovered shoulders at Osborne House in the Isle of Wight, where Queen Victoria had retired. This marble portrait bust is possibly a replica of the original that was made for the Blue Room at Windsor Castle, where Prince Albert had died (RCIN 34098). Prince Albert is shown with a bare torso revealing his chest and shoulders and with his hair swept forward towards the temples.

The glass plate negative has been photographed showing the coated side and therefore the image appears laterally reversed. Prints form this negative do not seem to exist in the Collection.