Bidspirit 拍卖 | Balmoral Castle – South Front

Balmoral Castle – South Front of Queen Victoria’s Scottish Residence – Large Original Photograph by George Washington Wilson – 19th Century; Additional Landscape Photograph on Reverse - A large original nineteenth-century photograph of Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the celebrated Scottish residence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, by the important Scottish photographer George Washington Wilson (1823–1893). The photograph presents an impressive panoramic view of the South Front of Balmoral Castle, set against the wooded hills of the Scottish landscape. A broad lawn occupies the foreground, with a solitary ornamental bench creating a particularly atmospheric sense of depth and scale. The image is captioned within the photograph: “BALMORAL CASTLE. SOUTH FRONT. 100. G.W.W.” the initials G.W.W. referring to George Washington Wilson. Wilson was one of the pioneering figures of nineteenth-century Scottish photography and became particularly celebrated for his architectural and landscape views. His association with the British Royal Family was significant: he photographed Balmoral as well as Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and members of the Royal Family, becoming one of the photographers closely associated with royal life in Scotland. Balmoral held profound personal significance for Victoria and Albert. The new castle was constructed for the royal couple during the 1850s, and following Prince Albert’s death in 1861 Victoria continued to spend extended periods there. Balmoral consequently became one of the places most closely associated with the Queen’s private life and her deep attachment to Scotland. This is an original nineteenth-century albumen photograph, mounted on a period album page. Mounted on the reverse of the same album page is a second original nineteenth-century albumen photograph, depicting a dramatic landscape with rocky cliffs, trees and water in the foreground. No inscription visible in the photograph presently permits a secure identification of either the location or photographer; it is therefore catalogued conservatively as an unidentified albumen landscape photograph, without attribution to Wilson. An appealing piece of Victorian photographic history combining an original George Washington Wilson photograph of Balmoral Castle with an additional nineteenth-century landscape photograph mounted on the reverse of the same period album page.