An early royal albumen Carte-de-Visite (CDV) portrait of Princess Alice (1843–1878), daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, by the celebrated British portrait photographer John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1813–1901). Princess Alice, approximately 17 years old when the portrait was taken, is shown in an elegant full-length pose wearing an elaborate, full-skirted Victorian dress and richly patterned shawl. At the lower right of the photograph appears Mayall's studio marking together with the date: “Mayall … April 17 1861” allowing the portrait to be precisely dated to 17 April 1861. Printed beneath the photograph is the contemporary identification: “H.R.H. THE PRINCESS ALICE.” The reverse bears the photographer's imprint: “PHOTOGRAPHED FROM LIFE BY MAYALL, 224, REGENT STREET, LONDON.” Mayall was one of the leading photographers of Victorian Britain and became particularly celebrated for his portraits of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and members of the Royal Family. His royal cartes-de-visite played an important role in bringing photographic images of the Royal Family to a wide Victorian audience. An old manuscript identification on the reverse reads: “Princess of Hesse. died Dec. 14th 1878.” Alice married Prince Louis of Hesse in 1862, later Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and by Rhine. She was the mother of Princess Alix of Hesse, later Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Tsar Nicholas II and the last Empress of Russia. Princess Alice died of diphtheria on 14 December 1878, aged only 35, becoming the first of Queen Victoria's children to die. An attractive and historically significant early Victorian royal photograph combining a portrait of Queen Victoria's daughter at approximately seventeen years of age, a precise 1861 date, the albumen CDV format, direct attribution to J. E. Mayall, and a major dynastic connection with Imperial Russia and the Romanov family.
Auction 01: Auction 01 – Historical Letters, Documents & Autographs — Melis Antiques & Art