H M The Queen

This is a rare copy of the woodcut of this iconic image of Queen Victoria in old age, with additional passages of painting by William Nicholson, presented as a gift to an unidentified recipient, Minnie (?) Capstick.

To commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Nicholson made the woodblock print for publication as a chromolithograph in the June 1897 edition of the 'New Review'. It was issued in large quantities, and also, in 1899, included in the first series of 'Twelve Portraits', published by Heinemann, becoming perhaps the best-known image of Victoria in her later years. She is seen walking with a stick in the gardens of Kensington Palace, accompanied by a Scottish terrier. 

Nicholson retained the block and over the next 30 years produced occasional woodblock prints of his celebrated image, which he presented to friends, sometimes adding paint to the images, such as the white heightening on the hair and hands seen here. Whether deliberately or accidentally, Nicholson also seems to have torn the paper in the dress area of the present work, and has painted this section in with black paint or ink. He also applied red and brown watercolour across the print, most noticeably on the dog and the Queen's head. 

The print was trimmed by the artist, just outside the border, and laid down on board, on which he painted in the dress, added the lower left corner and dedicated the work. On the back of the board is a sketch in blue crayon and pencil of a seated figure with arms on a table, presumably by Nicholson, as the work had apparently not been removed from its frame after being presented to the recipient until it was acquired and remounted by us.