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Queen Victoria and Thomas Sully
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Queen Victoria, 1838.
Thomas Sully (American, 1783–1872).
Oil on canvas.
Collection of Mrs. Arthur A. Houghton, Jr.
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More about This Exhibition
A painting of England's eighteen-year-old Queen Victoria—the acknowledged masterpiece of Philadelphia artist Thomas Sully (1783–1872)—was the focus of an exhibition on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from September 19, 2000 through December 31, 2000. "Queen Victoria and Thomas Sully" documentd the creation of this compelling portrait through some thirty-five works including oil sketches, paintings, drawings, manuscripts, and ephemera. The exhibition shed new light on an image of one of history's most celebrated women, and commemorated the centennial of Victoria's death in 1901.
Considered one of the most intriguing portrayals of the young queen in her coronation year, as well as an ingenious take on canonical state portraiture, Sully's full-length portrait (Collection of Mrs. Arthur A. Houghton, Jr.) captures Victoria as she steps toward her throne while turning to look back at the viewer. Other highlights of the exhibition were Sully's famous bust-length oil sketch of Victoria, for which she sat at
Buckingham Palace; Sully's journal recording his thoughts about London and the queen; his palette; and the 61 1/4-inch pink ribbon that Victoria gave the artist as a precise record of her height. The works on view were drawn from the holdings of the Metropolitan Museum, as well as from public and private collections in Europe and the United States.
"Thomas Sully's full-length portrait of Queen Victoria was immediately acclaimed as a masterpiece," says Carrie Rebora Barratt, associate curator of American Paintings and Sculpture and manager of The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art at the Metropolitan. "Almost single-handedly, he created the vogue for full-length portraiture in America."
The exhibition was made possible by Crown Equipment Corporation.
A complementary exhibition, "Thomas Sully in the Metropolitan," featuring approximately thirty paintings and drawings by Sully from the Museum's collection, was on view from September 19, 2000 through January 14, 2001.
More about the Artist
More about the Objects on View
Educational Programs
Exhibition Publication
Exhibition Organizers and Credits
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More about the Artist
Already established as Philadelphia's leading portrait painter and filling the
void left by the deaths of renowned American portraitists Gilbert Stuart
(1755–1828) and Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827), Thomas Sully was
fifty-four years old in 1837, the year that Alexandrina Victoria (Queen Victoria)
succeeded to the British throne. Sully's sitters included such luminaries as Andrew
Jackson and the Marquis de Lafayette, but his portraits of women—influenced by
the work of English painter Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830)—brought him his
greatest renown. The 19th-century American art writer, H. T. Tuckerman, observed that
Sully's female subjects had "an air of breeding, a high tone, a genteel carriage…"
While preparing for his second study trip to London, Sully, who was British by birth,
accepted a commission from the Philadelphia chapter of The Society of the Sons of St.
George (a benevolent association devoted to English emigrants) for a life-size
portrait of the new British queen. Sully remained in London for almost a year, negotiating complicated palace protocol
in pursuit of a sitting, visiting museums, galleries, and private collections, and
meticulously recording his activities in a journal. His twenty-three-year-old daughter
Blanch had accompanied him to explore English manners, dress, and society; she too
enjoyed an unimaginable experience, as the queen ultimately suggested that Blanch
"should sit with the crown jewels instead of herself."
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More about the Objects on View
Sully was granted his first sitting with the queen in March 1838.
By the end of May he had completed the bust-length oil sketch that would serve
as the basis for the full-length portrait he completed later in Philadelphia.
In contrast to the many traditional portraits of the young queen, which adopted a
formal, frontal view, Sully depicted Victoria turning and looking over her shoulder
at the viewer. The pose emphasized what the artist had deemed the queen's most
attractive features, the curving line of her neck and her bared shoulder.
Sully recorded in his journal, "the likeness was much commended by all. The Queen
quite approved of the style I had adopted and said it was a nice picture."
His London journal (Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia) and his memoirs (Winterthur Museum and Library, Delaware) were featured
in "Queen Victoria and Thomas Sully," as well as works that may have inspired the
famous portrait. Sully's portrayal of the fictional heroine Musidora
(1835), shows a young woman bathing in a stream, and
surprised by a suitor, modestly turning to hide her face, a pose that resonates in
the one Sully later chose for the queen. Sully's only known nude, Musidora,
is both chaste and erotic, a combination that appealed to Victorian audiences in the
early 19th century.
In Sully's full-length portrait of Victoria, the young queen is depicted in mid-step
toward her throne while looking back at the viewer. Sully chose this moment of
literal and symbolic ascendance to convey not only the queen's dignity, but her
humanity and her femininity.
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Educational Programs
A variety of educational programs, including lectures and gallery talks, were presented in conjunction with the exhibition.
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Exhibition Publication
A scholarly publication accompanied the exhibition. Published by Princeton University Press in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Queen Victoria and Thomas Sully was written by Carrie Rebora Barratt and includes an edited version of Sully's London journal.
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Exhibition Organizers and Credits
"Queen Victoria and Thomas Sully" was curated by Carrie Rebora Barratt. Exhibition design was by Michael Langley, exhibition designer, with graphics by Constance Norkin, graphic designer, and lighting by Zack Zanolli, lighting designer.
After its showing at the Metropolitan, "Queen Victoria and Thomas Sully" traveled to the Wallace Collection in London, where it was on view from January 22 through
April 29, 2001.
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