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Windsor Castle
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In the mid-nineteenth century, Windsor Castle, the royal residence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, symbolized England's noble history and culture. The castle became a popular destination for American tourists, and Sanford R. Gifford traveled to Windsor in 1855 during his first tour of Europe. In a journal entry from that trip, he described making a sketch of the castle from Datchet Mead—a nearby meadow that is referenced in William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602)—and also observing a stunning view of the castle at twilight:
"In the evening we had a fine sunset, and I enjoyed a walk up the Thames. . . . There was a fine “effect” of the castle just before sunset. It crowns a bluff, and at this time its regal towers and battlements were relieved in the warm sunlight against the sullen gray of the clouds behind them."
[Sanford Robinson Gifford, journal entry of July 11, 1855, Archives ofAmerican Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC]
- Artist
- Sanford Robinson Gifford
- Title
- Windsor Castle
- Date
- 1860
- Place of Creation
- United States
- Object Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 17 3/4 x 29 7/8 in. (45.1 x 75.9 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd
- Accession Number
- 1979.7.44