Alexander and William Brodie

Queen Victoria, 1819 - 1901. Reigned 1837 - 19011865

On Display | PORTRAIT GALLERY

Queen Victoria sat to Alexander Brodie at Balmoral in 1865 and 1866. He had been asked to produce a statue (now at Aberdeen City Chambers) and this bust. The queen wanted the results to look distinctly Scottish, so Brodie included a thistle on the neckline of her dress, alongside the English rose and Irish clover. Brodie was a perfectionist, and his anxiety over this commission is thought to have been a factor in his suicide, aged thirty-seven, in 1867. William, his elder brother, finished the bust.

Glossary [2] Show

Bust

Sculpted portrait consisting of the head and the top of the shoulders.

Commission

When an individual or organisation employs an artist to execute a particular project, the process and the resulting work are termed a ‘commission’.

Bust, Commission
  • Accession no. PG 1068
  • Medium Marble
  • Size Height: 67.70 cm
  • Credit Transferred from the National Gallery of Scotland