Royal Gallery of Victoria Memorial Hall has the oil paintings of British painters and the Governor Generals of India at that time. Some of the paintings depicted the wedding and the royal life of Queen Victoria.
Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata, West Bengal, thus a living testimony of the British regime in India, leads any visitor, who arrives into its premises; view the intricate details about the colonial governance.
The spectacular miniature paintings and images of Queen Mary, King George V and Queen Victoria are the noteworthy representations in this regard.
It is indeed amazing enough, that three thousand five hundred commodities, related to the royal paraphernalia and the glorious memory of Queen Victoria provide the essence of what the Memorial Hall is all about.
The Queen`s imperial costumes, the well-known Rosewood piano, the Whispering Gallery in the dome and plenty of artillery arms deployed during the Battle of Plassey deserve mention.
Royal Gallery of Victoria Memorial relates the oil-paintings, which kept with care by the British regal authority. These portray scenes such as the crowning of Queen Victoria along with the ritualistic sacrament held in the Westminster Abbey in June 1838; the Queen`s imperial wedding with Prince Albert (1840) in the Chapel Royal, located at St. James` Palace; the baptizing-ceremony of the Prince of Wales in St. George`s Chapel, Windsor Castle (1842); W.P.Frith`s the marriage-occasion of the Prince of Wales (Edward VII) with Princess Alexandra (1863) ; the first Jubilee service, in Westminster Abbey in 1887, attended by Queen Victoria and the Second Jubilee service, also marked with the presence of Queen Victoria at St. Paul`s Cathedral, June 1897.
The prime attractions of Royal Gallery is the pianoforte with which Queen Victoria used to undergo training during her childhood and the writing desk and chair, employed for continuous regular work and communication at the Windsor Castle . The generous King Edward VII gifted this historical exhibit to the Victoria Memorial.
Furthermore, the Russian artist Veretchagin`s painting showing the phenomenal entry of Edward VII, the Prince Wales of those times, into Jaipur in 1876. These items are accompanied by Winterhalter`s portrait-presentations of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert in their youth , and that of Edward VII, as Prince of Wales, painted by Jansen in 1863 .
The other important paintings include, the last letter addressed to India by Queen Victoria, penned down on December 14th, 1900; the name-plate of the pianoforte`s manufacturer etc.
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Indian State Museums
Museums in West Bengal
Victoria Memorial Hall