Balmoral Castle, Scotland

Balmoral Castle, Scotland

Reference

2606

William Wyld (1806-1889)
Balmoral Castle, Scotland

Signed lower right: WWyld
Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour and stopping out
34 by 48.8 cm., 13 1/4 by 19 in.

Engraved:
By W. Gauci for Scotland Delineated and published by E. Gambart, 22nd November 1853

Wyld first met Queen Victoria when she was in Belgium in September 1843 when she commissioned works from him. He was invited to stay at Balmoral in September 1852 and a number of the sketches he made are in the Royal Collection (see Delia Millar,
The Victorian Watercolours and Drawings in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, vol. II, 1995, pp. 939-942, nos. 5963-5984). He wrote to a friend Suzan: `I am well and getting on very well with Her Majesty, who altho' a Queen is one of the most amiable women I ever spoke to, and so completely does she put you at your ease that I am no more embarrassed in talking to her than to you - I have now been here 12 days and see no chance of getting away - I hardly expect I shall leave before the Court leaves, for my hands are full of work and she is wishing for something fresh every day…. The Country is magnificent & the weather is fine and I am literally worked off my legs, for wishing to give the Queen satisfaction. I do not spare myself - from 6 till 6 every day I am at it' (quoted in Millar, op. cit., p.940).