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Prince Albert, the Prince Consort

1819 - 1861

Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert (of Saxe Coburg Gotha), did much to introduce an awareness of, and an interest in, early Northern European art to Britain.

At his wish, 25 paintings were presented to the National Gallery from the Royal Collection after his death. The great majority of these were Northern European. He was also a collector of Italian Renaissance painting and a patron of modern art.

Find out more about Prince Albert and his collection

Paintings previously owned by Prince Albert, the Prince Consort

(Showing 6 of 11 works)
A Female Head
A Female Head
Master of the Female Half-Lengths
A young woman with brown hair and plucked eyebrows gazes modestly downward. Her hairstyle is Italianate: her plaits are wound around the top of her head and are entwined with a semi-transparent scarf that falls across her right shoulder. She wears a semi-transparent ruched chemise and a blue over...
Not on display
A Young Woman Writing
A Young Woman Writing
After Jan Sanders van Hemessen
An elegant and fashionably dressed young lady is absorbed in writing a letter. She holds a quill pen. On the table next to her is a pen case, attached by brownish strings to a dark brown inkpot. We can‘t read what she is writing – the artist doesn’t seem to have intended it to be legible.We don't...
Not on display
Saint Christopher carrying the Infant Christ
Saint Christopher carrying the Infant Christ
Workshop of the Master of the Female Half-Lengths
According to legend, Saint Christopher was a giant, who was given the task of helping travellers across a river after he converted to Christianity. One day a child asked to be carried across, but Saint Christopher found him so heavy that he was bowed down with the weight. The child revealed that...
Not on display
Saint John on Patmos
Saint John on Patmos
Master of the Female Half-Lengths
Saint John the Evangelist is seated on the island of Patmos writing the Book of Revelation. He seems to have reached the twelfth of his 22 chapters, given the appearance in heaven of the ‘woman clothed with the sun’, and the red dragon with seven heads. They are floating in the sky at the top rig...
Not on display
The Coronation of the Virgin, and Other Scenes
The Coronation of the Virgin, and Other Scenes
Giusto de' Menabuoi
This triptych – a folding picture in three parts – was most likely made for private contemplation and worship. The central image shows Christ crowning the Virgin Mary after her ascension to heaven. Orderly tiers of cherubim and seraphim (the blue and red winged creatures at the very top), angels...
Not on display
The Crucifixion
The Crucifixion
Associate of Jan de Beer
This painting was probably once the centre panel of a triptych (a painting made up of three sections) showing episodes from the Passion (Christ’s torture and execution). The dead Christ hangs from the Cross, and three angels collect the blood from his wounds in chalices.On the left are the Virgin...
Not on display
The Crucifixion
The Crucifixion
Quinten Massys
This is the aftermath of the Crucifixion. The soldiers are riding away, and only Christ’s followers are left. Christ hangs from the Cross, dead or near death. The Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist stand on the left, while Mary Magdalene clings to the foot of the Cross. On the left Joseph of A...
Not on display
The Magdalen
The Magdalen
Workshop of the Master of 1518
Saint Mary Magdalene stands behind a stone ledge and holds her attribute – the pot of oil with which she anointed Christ’s feet. Behind her, a window opens onto a landscape; the cliffs and buildings on the left are a fairly accurate view of La Sainte-Baume, east of Marseille, where, according to...
Not on display
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Master of the Female Half-Lengths
The holy family rest as they flee from Bethlehem to Egypt, trying to escape King Herod’s order that all boys under two be killed. Mary sits on a low wall that encloses a courtyard and a fountain. She has opened her dress and chemise to reveal her right breast, evidently to feed her son. Saint Jos...
Not on display
The Virgin and Child in a Landscape
The Virgin and Child in a Landscape
Bernaert van Orley
In this small panel, the Virgin Mary sits under a tree and offers her breast to the Christ Child, who grasps it with both hands but turns away to look out towards the viewer. Although this is not a specific image of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt – it lacks Joseph, the donkey and the luggage –...
Not on display
The Virgin and Child in a Landscape
The Virgin and Child in a Landscape
Jan Provoost
The magnificently dressed Virgin Mary is seated in a garden, on a turf bench supported on planks of wood. The Christ Child is on her knee, playing with a whirligig. Pulling the string on the toy would make the part with sails fly upwards like a helicopter.Such benches seem to have been common in...
Not on display
You've viewed 6 of 11 paintings