Queen Victoria (1819-1901) . By HENRY CHARLES HEATH, 1886 . . ◼ Queen Victoria is shown in Heath's miniature dressed in black with the ribbon of the Order of the Garter, a diamond necklace and diamond and pearl drop earrings, and wearing an emerald brooch, tiara and white lace veil. . ◼ The miniature is mounted in a diamond-set green and red enamelled gold pendant with flowerhead border, the reverse engraved with the inscription: To Victoria of Wales / from her loving / Grandmama and Godmother / Victoria R.I. / 22nd April 1886. . ◼ The miniature is a small but good-quality copy by Heath, after a photograph by W. & D. Downey of c.1880. A similar, but slightly later, presentation portrait miniature, by Henry Charles Heath, dated 1890, the year of his appointment as Miniature Painter to Queen Victoria, was given by the Queen to the explorer Sir Henry Stanley that year; another was set into a diamond mount made by Garrards and presented to the Shah of Persia in 1889 (Times, Court Circular, 30 July 1889). . ◼ Ernest Dudley Heath, son of the artist, maintained that his father 'painted in all between thirty and forty portraits of Her Majesty and nearly as many of the late Prince Consort' (Pearson's Magazine, n.d., p. 689). This is confirmed by Queen Victoria's accounts, which list prolific quantities of, mostly photographic, miniatures being supplied by Heath throughout the 1860s and then again at the end of the 1880s. . ◼ During the early years covered by the Queen's private accounts, these are listed under the heading 'Presents', and the absence of all but two of Heath's miniatures of the Queen in the Royal Collection testifies to the fact that they were purchased for distribution as gifts. . 👑 Commissioned by Queen Victoria, by whom it was given to Princess Victoria of Wales, 22 April 1886; probably returned to the Royal Collection after the death of Princess Victoria of Wales in 1935 . . . #RoyalCollection #RoyalArt #OrderoftheGarter #Diamonds #Garrards #QueenVictoria #Victorian #VictorianEra #HouseofHanover #HerMajesty #Royalty #Monarchy #History #BritishMonarchy #GodSaveTheQueen #HistoryFacts #HistoryBuff #Heritage #Monarch #Historical #BritishRoyals (at London, United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrQJG3IlxSt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=pquab2a8ejyp
