Queen Victoria: Images of Power and Empire

Interesting online lecture from Gresham College on how Queen Victoria used images to portray power and family.

Jane Ridley, biographer of Victoria, took us through a series of paintings and photographs commissioned by Victoria and Albert explaining how they reflect what the couple and later Victoria on her own wanted to say about their family and position.

There were a number of images I hadn’t come across before such as the one shown here by Landseer of Victoria as a widow but still working. Ridley was good at telling stories and she told us how this image backfired on Victoria as it seemed to show her servant, John Brown, in a position of control over her.

It was good to have photographs included in the discussion was the couple embarrassed the new medium early on with a carte viste of Victoria being a best seller.

This was the first talk I’d done by Gresham College who I had only come across recently. The lectures cover a wide variety of topics and are run in person and online. I’ll certainly be doing more and look forward to getting to one in person in the near future. 

 

 

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