Name/Title
Portrait of HRH Queen Elizabeth IIEntry/Object ID
2001.01.02.aDescription
Photograph
This black and white 3/4 view portrait shows a seated Queen Elizabeth II in a formal dress, jewellery and tiara as well as the Order of the Garter on her shoulder sash.
Queen Elizabeth II reigned as Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from February 1952 until her death in September 2022. She was the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, and the longest recorded of any female head of state in history.Photograph Details
Type of Photograph
Silver Gelatin PrintSubject Place
Region
Western EuropeContinent
EuropeContext
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an English order of chivalry with a history stretching back to mediæval times. Founded by King Edward III in 1348, it is the world's oldest national order of knighthood in continuous existence and the pinnacle of the British civil and military honours system. Its membership is extremely limited, consisting in Queen Elizabeth II's time of the Queen, her consort the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, and 24 Knights Companion, excluding the Queen’s other sons and the Ladies of the Garter.
The Order's emblem is a garter circlet with the motto "Honi soit qui mal y pense" ( Shame on him who thinks evil of it). Members of the order wear it on ceremonial occasions.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Dorothy Frances Edith Wilding (1893-1976)Role
PhotographerDate made
1954Time Period
20th CenturyNotes
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Dorothy Frances Edith Wilding was a professional portrait photographer from Gloucester, England, who established successful studios in both London and New York. She is known for her portraits of the British Royal Family, some of which were used for postage stamps and in particular, for her studies of theater and film actors, writers and celebrities in which she “fused glamour with modernist elegance.“
Wilding began her photographic career as an apprentice to Bond Street photographer Marion Neilson (1875-1965). She opened her first studio in 1914, and by 1929 Wilding had moved studio a few times and in her new Bond Street Studio attracted theatrical stars and shot her first British Royal Family portrait. Wilding first photographed the Queen as a child in 1937, at the coronation of her father King George VI. She was the first woman to be appointed as the Official Royal Photographer for the event. She subsequently made portraits of the Queen on numerous significant occasions. To mark her own accession and coronation in 1952, the Queen reportedly posed for Wilding fifty-nine times.
Wilding opened a second Studio in New York in 1937. A further series of Royal Sittings were also taken when Wilding was based in America. These were eventually followed by the famous Wilding portrait of the newly ascended Elizabeth II that was used for a series of definitive postage stamps of Great Britain used between 1952 and 1967, and a series of Canadian stamps in use from 1954 to 1962. Her autobiography “In Pursuit of Perfection’ was published in 1958. Her surviving archives are held by the National Portrait Gallery in London.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Signature, Date, LabelLocation
Lower left, white stamp: DOROTHY WILDING
Bottom in ink on paper mount: Elizabeth R 1954
Labels on paper mount on mat board indicate provenance, originals are in file (see also Acquisition Notes below).
Also printed label verso with portrait icon image at top:
No. 015957 J [in pencil]
DOROTHY WILDING PORTRAITS LIMITED
7 OLD BOND STREET, LONDON W.1
TELEPHONE 8524 HYDE PARK
And in pencil below: Canada HouseDimensions
Dimension Description
Visible imageHeight
37.5 cmWidth
29.2 cmAcquisition
Acquisition Method
GiftNotes
Legacy collection
Donated by Rear-Admiral J. C. Hibbard, Flag Officer Pacific Coast 1953-55, HMC Dockyard, Esquimalt, Victoria, B.C.Relationships
Related Entries
Notes
2001.01.02.a Portrait of HRH Queen Elizabeth II
2001.01.02.b Portrait of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
2001.01.62 Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in the Robes of the Order of the Bath
2001.01.89 Portrait of Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada
2018.09.05 Portrait of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II
2018.10.01 Portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II Queen of Canada and HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
2022.04.04 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Queen of Canada
2023.04.13 Portrait of HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
