Victoria [Queen] (1819-1901; German/ English)
Victoria on Jan.1 1844, in the Costume of the late princess Royal, after West 1844
Etching on chine collé, 14.6 x 18.7 cm (image and plate), 37.9 x 54.0 cm (sheet)
Gift of Queen Victoria, 1893
National Gallery of Victoria (p.192.2-1)
This etching and Victoria [Queen] Two Studies of the Princess Royal 1843 {1893} NGV [ET] were both catalogued in 1894 and 1905 as “The Princess Royal in Fancy Dress”; and the NGV’s online catalogue lists this print as ‘Victoria, the Princess Royal, in eighteenth-century costume’, indicating a date of 1843.
However, the inscriptions (on the plate) clearly indicate the correct date and title: “VR del.Feb.1844” (lower left) and “Victoria on Jan.1 {?} 1844 // in the costume of the late Princess Royal // after West” (lower centre).
Clearly, then, Queen Victoria’s daughter Victoria (1840-1901), aged just over 3 in January 1844, is shown wearing clothes modelled on those worn by George III’s daughter Princess Charlotte (1766-1828), as depicted by Benjamin West in 1776; she became Princess Royal in 1789. Princess Victoria became Princess Royal in 1841: see now Victoria [Queen] Victoria, Princess, with her nurse 1841 {1893} NGV [ET].
Refs.
NGV 1894, p.69 (III.Vestibule, no.9 or 12); NGV 1905, p.106 (IV.Vestibule, no.10 or 13): each print is listed as showing ‘The Princess Royal in Fancy Dress’
The inscription clearly refers to Benjamin West’s 1776 portrait of Queen Charlotte with Charlotte, Princess Royal (Royal Collection), reproduced at e.g.http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=119221