Mary Herbert (1817-93)
Killarney: the Lower Lake, with Fir Island c. 1845-61
29.0 x 44.4 cm (whole object) | RCIN 920256
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A watercolour view of the Lower Lake with Fir Island, Tomies and Glena Mountains. Dated in a later hand at bottom right: Aug 1861".
Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and some of their older children visited Ireland in the summer of 1861. They stayed for two nights at Muckross House in County Kerry, with Henry Herbert, the Lord Lieutenant, and his wife Mary. After her first drive around the lake, Victoria wrote that she was "enchanted with the extreme beauty of the scenery". Mary Herbert was an accomplished amateur watercolour artist, and the Queen admired the many framed watercolours by Mary that decorated her rooms in Muckross House. There are three watercolours by Mary in the Royal Collection (see also RCINs 920254 and 929541), but whether Victoria requested examples of her work from her host or Mary asked to present them to her is unknown.
This watercolour was originally mounted in View Album IX. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert compiled nine View 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.
Provenance
From Queen Victoria's View Album IX, folio 20
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Measurements
29.0 x 44.4 cm (whole object)
Other number(s)
RL 20256
