Queen Victoria

The majestic coronation portrait of Queen Victoria (1819–1901) shown ascending to her throne (2021.140) marks a high point of Sully’s successful career. The offer to paint the newly crowned royal came in 1837 from the Philadelphia chapter of the Society of the Sons of Saint George, a benevolent association committed to supporting indigent English emigrants and their families. Sully accepted the Saint George commission, which took him to his native England, but did not complete the portrait until his return to Philadelphia in autumn 1838. The artist executed this bust-length oil study of Queen Victoria’s crowned head and bare shoulders over the course of four sittings at Buckingham Palace in May 1838. Her youthful beauty is expressed in the luscious painterly style that characterizes Sully’s strongest work.