Caroline de Guitaut: "The Art of Diplomacy: Collecting Russian Art in the Age of Queen Victoria"

Caroline de Guitaut, Royal Collection Trust, London

During the long reign of Queen Victoria, many culturally significant Russian works of art were acquired for the Royal Collection through personal gifts from Russian emperors, as well as purchases made by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. This lecture explores the collection’s sumptuous holdings of porcelain, pietre dure, paintings, and sculpture against the backdrop of the complex dynastic and political relationship of Great Britain and Russia during the nineteenth century.