Queen Victoria
Studying a royal portrait
The sitter
A coronation robe
A fur-lined gown
The pose
The gestures
The facial expression
The features
Idealize
The setting
Symbols of power
The gaze
The throne
A sceptre
A full-length portrait
A three-quarter portrait
A shoulder-length portrait
A side-face portrait (in profile)
What caracterizes an official
royal portrait?
Which symbols can be found
around monarchs ?
Which elements in a painting
may reveal the social status
of the sitter?
Why were monarchs keen on
being portrayed?
Thomas Sully, Queen Victoria, 1838,
Wallace Collection
A RED VELVET CURTAIN
GEORGE IV DIADEM
THE CROWN
ROSY CHEEKS
Most painters depict the
monarch sitting on his/her
throne, a symbol of
power/powerfulness/might/
mightiness.
Sully chooses to paint the
Queen in movement, walking
towards her throne. The
Queen is not posing so the
portrait is lively.
F. X. Winterhalter, Queen Victoria,
1859, Royal Collections
Which elements are connected
to royal power?
What is the impression
conveyed/given by the stance /
position of the queen?
Which historical evolution may
justify this portrayal?
Vocabulary:
a ceremonial costume
an ermin-lined cloak/ mantle
(un manteau doublé en
ermine)
a gown embroidered with gold
threads (brodé de fil d’or)
the lapel (le bord du manteau)
crimson velvet: velour écarlate
a crown with diamonds
Utiliser des adjectifs
Insert the following adjectives in the sentences
below:
Queen Victoria is wearing a dress and a mantle.
Ceremonial - long – embroidered - beautiful – red
Queen victoria looks self-assured.
Like – a – and - monarch – dressed – powerful –
authoritative
The Queen’s costume symbolized her mightiness.
Adorned – triumphant - and – with - fur – richly –
gold
Epithète :
places devant le nom dans un ordre precis
a very kind old English lady
TAILLE / ÂGE / COULEUR / ORIGINE / MATIERE + NOM : an interesting old French oil
painting
exceptions
Adjectifs accompagnés d’un complément : a glass full of water, a coat covered with
mud, a man ready to fight
Adjectifs nombreux ou contrastés : An old beggar, dirty, ragged, sad-looking, was
staring at me.
Attribut : après be, look, feel, keep, get, seem, find
pour exprimer l’aboutissement, le résultat
He pushed the door
open
cas particulier : adjectifs commencant par a- (afraid, asleep,....) après le nom : A
animal afraid of every man
SO / SUCH
SO + ADJ/ADV (+ ARTICLE + NOM) : I was so fascinated that I could have stayed
there forever
SUCH + ADJECTIF + ARTICLE + NOM : It is such a nice place !
Franz Xaver Winterhalter, The Royal
Family, 1846
Queen Victoria was the mother of 9
children. Her she is depicted more as a
mother than as a queen.
The girls are not painted as their
mother’s heirs, not like future queens
but playing with a doll.
Though the royal couple is posing
(Queen Victoria is looking at the
painter) the scene remains lively and
the atmosphere intimate.
Do you think this painting would be
hung, or displayed in the same place
as the previous one?
Sir EdwinLandseer, Queen Victoria and the
Prince Consort at Windsor, 1845-47
Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Portrait
de la Reine Victoria, 1842,
Versailles
Winterhalter, Queen Victoria, 1845,
Royal Collections
1887
Photographic
portrait
Jubilee portrait
Queen
Victoria,
Diamond
Jubilee
portrait,
1897