Lot 78: God Save the Queen

Henrietta Mary Ada Ward (1832-1924) God Save the Queen oil on canvas 25 x 20 in. (63.5 x 50.8 cm.)

London, Royal Academy, 1857, no. 122.

Henrietta Ward lived at Upton Park, Slough with her husband, the history painter, Edward Matthew Ward. The royal patronage received by him in 1854 was extended to his wife after Queen Victoria visited the family home and commissioned Henrietta to paint portraits of the royal children. Henrietta Ward acknowledged her nationalistic respect for her patron in the present picture, where a mother demonstrates the strength of her family's patriotic pride by encouraging them to sing the national anthem. Queen Victoria watches over the brood encouragingly from the song sheet. The resulting picture had such contemporary success that it was reproduced as an engraving in 1864 and a print soon hung on the nursery wall of Osborne House in the Isle of Wight.

Contemporary critics voiced great admiration for God Save the Queen when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1857. The Art Journal considered the work to be 'of very great merit... there are not many better works in the collection than this production of a lady - whether we regard the composition or the execution'. (1857, p. 167). Following the publication of the engraving, the same journal interpreted the work as a self-portrait of the artist with her children and commended the painting as a symbol of domestic harmony and nationalistic strength. The 'lady presiding at the instrument is Mrs Ward herself, and the youthful choristers are her children, whom she is teaching, like a loyal woman, our grand national anthem' (1864, p. 358).

Henrietta Ward was the most successful female painter of her generation and God Save the Queen was painted in the period of her greatest popularity and accomplishment. The appearance of this picture is an exciting rediscovery.