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The Children's Fancy Ball at Buckingham Palace

Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017 | All Rights Reserved

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Date

7th April 1859

Artist

Eugenio Agneni (1816-1879)

Collection

Royal Collection Trust

Image Link

https://www.rct.uk/collection/919909

Description

A watercolour depicting the fancy dress ball held in the Ball Supper Room at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the sixth birthday of Prince Leopold, Queen Victoria's youngest son. Signed //AGNENI//.
The children who attended Prince Leopold's birthday ball were aged between six and fourteen, and came dressed in a wide variety of costumes including national dress. Prince Leopold and his brother Prince Alfred were dressed as two sons of Henry IV.
Agneni's watercolour of the event shows the room's original colour scheme, devised by Prince Albert and Ludwig Gruner, his artistic adviser. At this time, the dome was decorated as a blue tent with cords and covered with gold stars. Illusionistic birds were painted on the sky. The upper part of the room was divided into panels, each surrounded by a rich frame with alternating Raphael arabesques in colour and the royal arms in monochrome on a gold ground, and panels of coloured marble were painted on the lower parts of the walls. The room was entirely altered in the reign of King Edward VII.
This watercolour was originally bound in Souvenir Album VIII. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert compiled nine Souvenir Albums during their marriage. These albums contained watercolours and drawings documenting their life together and were arranged in chronological order. The albums were dismantled in the early twentieth century and rebound in new volumes both in a different arrangement and with additional items, but a written record of their original contents and arrangement still exists.

Image Licence

All Rights Reserved

Image Credit

Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017

Location

Buckingham Palace, London, England

Country

Medium

Tags

Dress
Leisure
Royalty
Music
Interiors
Palaces

Category

Buildings & Architecture

Glossary
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© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform

© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform