ALBERT, Prince (1819-1861). Consort of Queen Victoria.
Letter Signed in French to G Wappers, director of the royal academy of painting in Anvers, 3 pages 4to on black-edged paper, Buckingham Palace, 30 June 1840. Regretting that he now had little time to pursue his interest in painting, and asking Wappers to procure for him a mannequin.
Prince Albert is writing in a particularly momentous year for him. On 10 February he had married the young Queen Victoria, who was by now pregnant with their first son (later Edward VII). The following month, on 13 July, he was to be made Regent in the event of the queen's death.

'... Maintenant il me reste peu de temps pour la peinture; je m'en occupe pourtant dans les intervalles de loisir.
 Il me faut un mannequin pour mes études de dessin et Vous m'obligerez bien, Monsieur, en m'en procurant un; car il me parait que ceux qu'on vende en France et en Belgique sont d'une construction supérieure que ceux que j'ai vu ici à Londres. ...'

It is evident from the above that Albert is referring to a lay figure rather than asking his old teacher to provide him with a life model.
[No: 20448]