The Old MasterWho was Roger Fenton? A pioneer of photography.

Remarks from the Fray:

I didn't realize that Roger Fenton took some of my favorite portraits of Queen Victoria. (That's what I get for never looking up the name of the photographer!)

But I must note that Jim Lewis falls prey to some of the usual stereotypes about Victoria. Her mouth was not "slatternly", but it certainly did have a peculiar shape that was a challenge to painters and photographers. Franz Winterhalter was one of the first to portray it truthfully, yet attractively, as seen here. Also, note the plaid shawl Victoria is wearing. The photo was probably taken on one of the trips to Scotland. She like to pose as a cottager, and even worked at a spinning wheel for relaxation.

You will also note that this particular Winterhalter has a "come-hither" look. It was painted as a surprise for Albert's birthday. While her façace to the outside world in her old age was forbidding, Victoria and Albert shared intense physical love. It's rumored that one of the reasons that her youngest daughter Beatrice made an abridged copy of her mother's diaries and then destroyed the originals was because she was embarrassed by the many passages concerning her parents' love life. Even in widowhood, Victoria had an appreciation for the slightly risqué.

The children in the picture are (left to right) the future Edward VII great-grandfather of the present Queen, Empress Frederick mother of Kaiser Wilhelm II and great-great-grandmother of the icky Ernst August of Hanover (Princess Caroline of Monaco's third husband), Alice Duchess of Hessen-Darmstadt mother of Empress Aleksandra Fedorovna and great-grandmother of Prince Philip, and Alfred Duke of Edinburgh father of the frothy Queen Marie of Romania.

--MT

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(3/17)

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