LONDON.- The Queen's Pictures presents nearly 250 masterpiece paintings and drawings from Britain’s Royal Collection, one of the world’s largest art collections and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. Consisting of more than a million paintings, drawings, and historic photographs, as well as pieces of furniture, jewelry, and ceramics, the Royal Collection is a unique record of the aesthetic preferences and personal histories of British monarchs over the past five centuries and contains works by many of Europe’s leading artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Vermeer, and Anthony van Dyck.
Richly illustrated with over 425 illustrations, including many details of the artworks themselves, this monumental volume presents the artworks geographically and chronologically and includes detailed descriptions of each artwork. The book’s introduction, illustrated with photographs of the royal palaces, recounts the intriguing history of the Royal Collection which reflects the tastes of successive monarchs against the backdrop of momentous historical events: the Renaissance, English Civil War, the Restoration, Napoleonic Wars, and the rise of the British Empire.
From still life paintings to landscapes to portrait paintings and miniatures, the Collection’s finest paintings and drawings are reproduced in exacting detail, including works by Bellini, Mantegna, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Canaletto, Dürer, Cranach, Holbein, Rubens, Rembrandt, Hogarth, Gainsborough, and many others.
The Royal Collection is distributed among royal residences and palaces throughout the United Kingdom, including Her Majesty The Queen’s official residences, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse; as well as the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Clarence House, Hillsborough Castle, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, and the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Many of the works of art can be viewed by the public in their original locations while others can be seen in changing exhibitions mounted in The Queen’s Galleries at Buckingham Palace, London, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, as well as on short- and long-term loan to museums and galleries both within the United Kingdom and around the world.
This exquisite tour-de-force of Britain’s Royal Collection, one of the world’s unparalleled art collections, provides a rare opportunity to see the very best of these paintings gathered together in one insightful and beautiful volume.
Anna Poznanskaya is curator and deputy head of the Department of 19th and 20th Century European and American Arts at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. Tim Knox is the Director of the Royal Collection. Royal Collection Trust, a department of the Royal Household, is responsible for the care of the Royal Collection and manages the public opening of the official residences of The Queen. Income generated from admissions and from associated commercial activities contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational programmes. Royal Collection Trust’s work is undertaken without public funding of any kind. The Royal Collection is among the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. It comprises almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts, and is spread among some 15 royal residences and former residences across the UK, most of which are regularly open to the public. The Royal Collection is held in trust by the Sovereign for her successors and the nation, and is not owned by The Queen as a private individual.
