A large album, landscape format, bound in dark blue leather. Patterns are inlaid into the leather on the front cover, framing the gold embossed lettering saying ‘Theatrical Album’ and an emblem made up from a harp, theatrical mask, sword, arrow, and chain.

Theatrical Album

Various artists, assembled by Queen Victoria

1852-1861

album bound in blue leather with embossed decoration and gold lettering on both boards

46.0 x 59.0 x 5.5 cm

RCIN 970449

Image credit: Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021

In 1852, Prince Albert bought his wife a large album to document their theatregoing. Over almost a decade, the couple commissioned and collected watercolours by several artists, representing particular scenes in plays they attended together.

Several of Charles Kean’s spectacular Shakespeare productions are represented, as well as scenes from operas and melodramas such as Dion Boucicault's popular plays The Corsican Brothers (1852) and The Colleen Bawn (1860).

The Theatrical Album shows Queen Victoria's desire to archive her theatregoing, and her taste for stage spectacle. The number of Shakespeare productions in the album reflect Victorian ideas of what counted as elite culture, but also the royal family's interest in representations of their own history. The album includes five paintings of scenes from Richard II.

Watch the video below to see inside the album.

Previous object

Sketch showing the Historical Episode in Richard II

Thomas Grieve (1799-1882)

1857

Grieve-Historical-Episode-VAM.tiff

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Historical Episode from Richard II

Egron Seliff Lundgren (1815-75)

1857

Lundgren Historical Episode

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A Scene in Richard III

Egron Sellif Lundgren (1815-75)

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A watercolour painting of a scene from Richard III, predominantly in bold shades of red and blue. Charles Kean as Richard III sits on the edge of a bed in a tent with red drapery and gold embellishments. His posture is twisted: both feet rest on the ground as he turns to the left to place both hands on a small table, his head turns the other way to gaze off to the right. He wears a tunic with the royal arms, and plate armour on his arms and legs; a helmet topped with a crown is on the ground near his feet. The table also bears the royal arms, and further standards in royal colours are stacked on the right. A brazier casts a pool of light over Richard and the table, which bears writing implements. Outside the light there is a cannon, behind which a sentry stands with his back to the viewer, in long cloak and helmet, carrying a spear. The shapes of further tents are faintly rendered in the background, and the twisted branches of a tree against a deep blue night sky.

Her Majesty as she appeared on her first visit to Covent Garden Theatre

William Drummond (fl. 1800-50)

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A hand-coloured lithograph of a group of people framed by the red curtains of a theatre box; the royal arms are faintly rendered at the bottom of the frame. Queen Victoria is at the centre. She has her arms folded in front of her, one hand holding a posy of flowers, and her head turned to the left. She wears a tiara, a pale silk dress with a fur stole, and white wrist-length gloves. On the right stands the Duchess of Kent, in a dark blue dress with black lace shawl and black plumed hat, with dark ringlets around her forehead. To the right, the Marquess of Conyngham has prominent dark sideburns and wears a blue tailcoat with high, gold-edged collar and a white sash, white gloves, and grey trousers. He holds the string presumably used to open the curtains. The Duchess of Sutherland is beside him, in pale green dress, tiara and white veil, holding a posy. More faintly rendered in the background are the Marchioness of Tavistock, in an elaborate plumed headdress, and the Earl of Albemarle, in red military uniform. Below, the title is printed: ‘Her Majesty as she appeared on her first visit to Covent Garden Theatre,’ and the names of the subjects are printed below each figure (except the queen).