Queen Victoria Was Too Busy to Pose, So the Painter Used a Dressmaker’s Dummy
Painting a queen sounds glamorous, but for the artist, it could also require a great deal of imagination.
When Spanish painter Señor Moreno Carbonero set out to paint Queen Victoria of Spain, he did not have the luxury of endless royal sittings. The Queen reportedly posed long enough for him to capture her head, but the rest of the portrait had to be completed another way.
For the gown, the posture, and the royal figure, the painter relied not on the Queen herself, but on a dressmaker’s dummy dressed in one of her elegant gowns.
It was, apparently, one of the tricks of royal portraiture.
Where a Painter Needs Imagination
Painting a portrait of a king or queen is a difficult trick. This photograph explains why. It shows how the distinguished Spanish painter, Señor Moreno Carbenero, painted his portrait of Queen Victoria of Spain.
Queen Victoria was too busy or too important to sit for the portrait until it was completed. She gave one sitting for the head, and the artist was obliged to paint all the rest of the figure from a dressmaker’s dummy, bearing a very handsome dress belonging to the Queen.
King and Queens always leave it to the artist in that way.
Source: Atlanta Georgian. Atlanta, Ga. February 22, 1913.
