This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Glass plate negatives

Albert and Victoria’s collection of glass plate negatives show photographers’ working methods

    AFTER UNKNOWN PERSON

    Mourning portrait of female figure

    c. 1851 - c. 1870

    RCIN 2083167

    Glass plate negative of a painting depicting a half-length portrait of a female figure. The sitter is seated in an armchair facing slightly to the left and gazes directly at the viewer. She wears mourning clothes and holds a little book in one hand. A bust of a male figure, possibly important to the sitter, can be seen in the background. 

    The glass plate negative has been photographed showing the coated side and therefore the image appears laterally reversed. Prints from this negative do not seem to exist in the Collection.

    • Creator(s)

      After Unknown Person (artist)

    • Acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

    • Subject(s)
      • Social sciences
        • Ethnology
          • Mourning
      Object type(s)
        • visual works
          • photographs
            • negatives
              • glass plate negatives