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Queen Victoria Presiding at her First Council, June 20, 1837

1838
Not on view
When William IV died, his niece Victoria learned early the next morning that she had become queen. At noon she presided over a meeting of the Accession Council at Kensington Palace, and her calm self-possession was recorded in the diary of attendee Charles Greville. This engraving is based on a commemorative painting by Wilkie (Royal Collection), that portrays thirty-three of the ninety-seven councillors who attended. Leading figures are Lord Melbourne, the Duke of Wellington, and the queen's two uncles, Ernest Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover, and Augustus, Duke of Sussex. To emphasize Victoria's youthful innocence, the artist dressed her in white, although she actually wore black to mourn her uncle. Fox's related engraving was published in 1838, the same year that Wilkie's painting was finished.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Queen Victoria Presiding at her First Council, June 20, 1837
  • Engraver: Charles Fox (British, Costessey Park, near Norwich 1795–1849 Leyton, Essex)
  • Artist: After Sir David Wilkie (British, Cults, Scotland 1785–1841 off Gibraltar)
  • Publisher: Francis Graham Moon (British, London 1796–1871 Brighton)
  • Sitter: Queen Victoria (British, London 1819–1901 East Cowes, Isle of Wight)
  • Date: 1838
  • Medium: Mixed method engraving and mezzotint on chine collé
  • Dimensions: Plate: 23 3/8 × 34 in. (59.4 × 86.4 cm)
    Sheet: 27 1/2 in. × 36 in. (69.9 × 91.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
  • Object Number: 49.40.254
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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