Paintings from the Reign of Victoria
The Royal Holloway Collection, London

The catalogue of a touring exhibition which showcases sixty extraordinary paintings illustrating some of the highest achievements in figurative and landscape art of the nineteenth century. Acquired by Thomas Holloway to enhance the women’s college he had founded in 1879, the collection includes many of the most visible and praised “modern canvasses” in London in the 1880s. From scenes of contemporary life, as well as historical events, to landscapes, animal studies, and marine subjects, the exhibition illustrates the Victorian belief in art as the ultimate civilizing influence. Art was seen as a teaching tool with visual beauty as its medium, and Thomas Holloway sought out only the best examples, regardless of cost. Included are seminal works by artists such as Sir Edwin Landseer, William Powell Frith, Sir John Everett Millais, David Roberts, and Edwin Long.