The coronation of Queen Victoria on 28 June 1838 was an event of great interest to British subjects all over the world. 

The Sydney Monitor reports pleasure in examining Maurice Felton’s portrait of the 19-year-old Victoria. She is presented in her coronation robes, as ‘a real English girl beaming with beauty’, showing what she is ‘really like’ and ‘painted with an uncommon truth and spirit’.

This work was copied from the life study of the young monarch by American artist Thomas Sully, which Felton is known to have inspected in London in 1838, before his departure for Australia.

This painting was included as a prize in Felton’s 1841 Art Union, the first in Australia. Tickets were £1 and the winner selected this portrait from 24 paintings on offer.