EXCLUSIVE MASTERCLASS | QUEEN VICTORIA & PRINCE ALBERT | Patrons of the arts and art collectors with Oliver Everett

Victoria and Albert were enthusiastic patrons of the arts throughout their marriage, commissioning and collecting works from both British and European artists. These included Old Master paintings, sculpture, furniture, jewellery and fine bindings. Victoria and Albert were as passionate about art as they were about each other. They viewed their roles as patrons of the arts as being part of the public duties of the monarchy. Buckingham Palace was known as ‘the headquarters of taste’. 

They also made important changes at Windsor Castle and added three other distinctive royal residences, Balmoral Castle, Osborne House and Sandringham House. They played a pivotal role with the ground breaking Great Exhibition of 1851, and were important patrons of early photography. 

This lecture also challenges the popular image of Victoria as a melancholy widow and reveals her as a passionate and open-minded woman.

OLIVER EVERETT is Librarian Emeritus of the Royal Library, Windsor Castle. He was Librarian there and Assistant Keeper of the Royal Archives from 1985 to 2002. He wrote articles on the Royal Library, helped with several books on the Royal Collection, wrote the official guidebook on Windsor Castle, taught a history course on it and advised on a television series on it. 

He was in the British Diplomatic Service, 1967-78, including postings in India and Spain. He was Assistant Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, 1978-80; and Private Secretary to Diana, Princess of Wales, 1981-83.

He lectures widely in Britain and abroad, including at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the New York Public Library. In Canada, at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.  In Australia, at National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and University of Melbourne; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. And to art societies in Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain and New Zealand; and also on cruise ships. 

He was educated at Cambridge University and did post-graduate work at Tufts University, Massachusetts; and at the London School of Economics.

Franz Xaver Winterhalter (German, 1805-1873), Queen Victoria (age 23), 1842, The Royal Collection, England, RCIN 406010, Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017 | Public Domain