Diagram of the Colors Used to Paint the Portrait of Queen Victoria
Thomas Sully American
Not on view
While in London in May 1838, Sully painted a half-length portrait of Queen Victoria (The Wallace Collection, London) for the engravers Hodgson and Graves, who produced mezzotints for sale from the image. Sully made this meticulous visual record of the palette he used for the portrait, documenting the pigments with descriptions of fifteen color mixtures. Once back in Philadelphia, he referred to this ink-and-oil paint key for the full-length composition he would paint in duplicate, one version for the Society of the Sons of Saint George (2021.140) and one for himself to exhibit on tour (destroyed by fire).
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
