 |
| Anonymous British Artist The Last Moments of HRH the Prince Consort ca. 1861 oil on canvas Wellcome Collection, London |
"The sudden death of Albert, Prince Consort on 14 December 1861 was a great shock to the country and, of course, to Queen Victoria. However, there were two factors which made it even more disturbing. First, the diagnosis was 'low fever' or typhoid, a particularly undignified disease involving vomiting, diarrhoea and intestinal haemorrhage. Second, the seriousness of the illness had been suppressed by the Prince's doctors, with the result that people were still praying in church for his recovery after he had died. This picture is one of many memorials of that event. Queen Victoria was horrified by the existence of the picture and considered buying it in order to have it destroyed, but it survived and was bought by Henry S. Wellcome in 1924. The artist has not yet been identified with certainty. At the time it was painted, he used the pseudonym Le Port. There was a rumour that his real name was Oakley. He portrays the scene at Windsor Castle, with the Prince Consort in bed, the Prince of Wales to the left and the Queen in grey on the right. On the far left is the quartet of disgraced physicians."
– curator's notes at the Wellcome Collection
 |
| Anonymous British Artist The Spa Fire 1876 oil on canvas Scarborough Art Gallery, Yorkshire |
 |
| George Richmond The Murder of Becket 1855 oil on canvas Canterbury Museums and Galleries, Kent |
 |
| John Linnell The Rising of the River 1857 oil on canvas Bury Art Museum, Manchester |
 |
| John Martin The Last Man 1849 oil on canvas Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
 |
| Abraham Solomon The Flight from Lucknow 1858 oil on canvas New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester |
"The Flight from Lucknow dramatises an event which took place in June-November 1857, part of the Indian Mutiny, or as known in India, the First War of Indian Independence. This was a year-long period of uprising against British Rule in India. On 25 September 1857, after a 90-day siege by Indian rebels, the British garrison at the city of Lucknow was relieved, women and children being evacuated first and fleeing to Cawnpore."
– curator's notes at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery
 |
| William Powell Frith Mary Queen of Scots bidding farewell to France, 1561 1851 oil on canvas National Trust, Newton House, Carmarthenshire |
 |
| Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema Measuring Heights (Settling a Difference) ca. 1890 oil on canvas Dover Collections, Kent |
 |
| Paul Constant Soyer Old Man, and a Young Girl learning to Read 1866 oil on canvas Bradford Museums and Galleries, Yorkshire |
 |
| Charles West Cope Palpitation 1844 oil on panel Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
"This is an early example of a 'problem picture' in which the subject is rendered in a deliberately ambiguous way to provoke interest and argument among its audience. The arrival of a letter may be as exciting today as then, but the postal system in the 1840s was a novelty – the regular delivery of letters began in 1840 – and gives the subject of this painting a topical gloss. The lack of clarity in meaning concerns the reason for the 'palpitation' of the title. The woman may be awaiting a letter from an illicit lover, a letter she must intercept before others in the household are aware; the whip hanging on the stag's horns (themselves a traditional symbol of cuckoldry) and the hat on the table indicate a man's presence in the home. Or, the sender may be a legitimate suitor. The suspense is heightened by such details as the phial of smelling salts, the bag, umbrella and glove dropped on the floor, and the emphasis on the lock, chain casing and bolts on the door. Whether guilt, fear, or sheer delight has caused the palpitation, it is well conveyed in the woman's tremulous and febrile pose and facial expression."
– curator's notes at the Victoria & Albert Museum
 |
| Benjamin Robert Haydon Marcus Curtius leaping into the Chasm 1842 oil on canvas Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, Devon |
 |
| Ernest Normand The Bitter Daughter of Slavery 1885 oil on canvas Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, Yorkshire |
 |
| Philip Hermogenes Calderon Broken Vows 1857 oil on panel Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
 |
| Byam Shaw Silent Noon 1894 oil on canvas Leighton House Museum, London |
 |
| Frank Dicksee Startled 1892 oil on canvas Royal Academy of Arts, London |