Historical information

This print was an 1885 Christmas gift from the publishers of the Australian Town and Country Journal to their subscribers. At that time Queen Victoria was 65 years old although she may not have been that age when the portrait was painted. The print shows Queen Victoria’s signature in the bottom right corner. It cost sixpence per copy and operated from 1870-1919.

The Australian Town and Country Journal was printed weekly, on Saturdays, in Sydney. The edition on December 26, 1885, contained 51 pages. The Journal claimed “Circulation Ten Thousand Copies, Greater than any other Weekly in Australia.”

The frame of the print has a solid back of thick timber panels and is crudely made. The edges of the frame appear to have an underlying plaster base that has been covered with a layer of wood. The corners are reinforced with metal protectors.

The subject of the print is Queen Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland. She was born as Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent on May 24, 1819. She became Queen on June 24, 1837 when King William IV died. She married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on February 10, 1840. Queen Victoria lived and reigned until her death on January 22, 1901, at age 82 years, after reigning for sixty-three years and seven months.

Significance

This portrait is significant historically for its origin as an inclusion the Australian Town and Country Journal, a late 19th century Australian weekly newspaper, in circulation for almost fifty years.

The portrait gifted to the newspaper’s subscribers is historically significant as an example of the connection between the people in the British Colony of Australia, with the value and respect held for the Queen of the Colony.

The frame of the portrait, of solid and protective construction, shows the value that the owners placed on this portrait.

Physical description

Print behind glass in a brown wooden frame; coloured print of a portrait of Queen Victoria, made in watercolours. The Queen is wearing a blue sash, crown, and white ribbon pinned to the sash along with a cameo brooch and Royal Emblem. The portrait has an oval floral border of roses in pastel colours. Text is printed outside the border, as a title above and a signature below, in the lower right corner.
The back of the frame is made of heavy timber panels with holes for attaching wire. The timber frame is over a white layer of soft substance, perhaps plaster.

Inscriptions & markings

"Presented to the Subscribers of the Australian Town and Country Journal, December 25th 1885"
“Victoria R”