She is the ruler of all she surveys: A never-before-seen sketchbook filled with landscape paintings by Victoria 135 years ago at Balmoral, Frogmore Cottage, and the French Alps is up for sale for £8,000.
Queen Victoria, who died in January 1901, was an accomplished amateur painter.
The small book she carried with her on her travels in 1885 has been discovered.
Katherine Lawton’s
A never-before-seen sketchbook containing works of art created by Queen Victoria at Balmoral, Frogmore Cottage, and the French Alps 135 years ago has sold for £8,000 at auction.
The illustrious monarch was a talented amateur artist who brought the small book with her on her travels in 1885.
She drew and painted the beautiful landscapes she saw on her travels, from the Scottish Cairngorms at Balmoral to the French Alps and the Isle of Wight, where she had a vacation home.
She also painted a rural landscape at Frogmore Cottage, Harry and Meghan’s home before they moved to California.
While on a train, the queen also did preliminary sketches of her pet dogs.
The leather-bound sketchbook, which bears Queen Victoria’s insignia on the front cover, was passed down through the family of Leta Smith, who worked as the Royal archivist at Windsor Castle for 33 years, from 1924 to 1957.
It is believed she received it in recognition of her years of service, along with the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) and a silver salver from a young Queen Elizabeth II.
After a clear out of a relative’s house, all of the items were revealed.
While the MVO award and salver are being sold together for around £800, the one-of-a-kind sketchbook is being sold separately for £8,000.
Charterhouse Auctioneers in Sherborne, Dorset, will be selling the items.
‘There is no doubt that this was Queen Victoria’s sketchbook that she carried around with her in 1885 to quickly draw and record whatever she wanted and then produce a larger work of it later,’ said auctioneer Richard Bromell.
‘Today, people would have a smartphone with which to record a beautiful landscape that they could later paint.
‘The sketches and watercolours are quite good for an amateur artist. Clearly, she had some good teachers around her.
‘The family selling it discovered it while clearing a property owned by a relative of Leta Smith.’
‘It’s fascinating that this sketchbook has never been seen by the public before,’ he added.
Queen Victoria also wrote captions for the pencil drawings and watercolour paintings.
On the inside front cover, she wrote that she began the sketchbook on April 11, 1885, aboard the French steamer ship La Petite Parisienne at Lac de Bourget in south-east France.
One watercolour depicts a French villa against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains.
In July 1885, there are also two colorful views of Frogmore’s grounds at Home Park in Windsor, as well as a sea view from the ‘tea table’ at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
A preliminary drawing of her pet terrier dog ‘Walter’ lying on a blanket on the train from Balmoral in June 1886 was also included in the sketchbook, as was a watercolour version of the same image.
There is also a pencil sketch of a stag by ‘Arthur’ that the queen claims was shot at Balmoral in September 1886. The items will be available for purchase on March 2.
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