The poster for Victoria & Albert: Art & Love perfectly reflects the nature of this exhibition, in which a portrait or bust of Victoria always appears next to a companion of that of Albert: the two constituted an inseparable whole. The beautiful cradle which Victoria and Albert designed for their fourth daughter Princess Louise, the delicacy and splendour of the textiles of their children’s dresses as expressed by the rich brushstrokes of Franz Xaver Winterhalter, the portrait of Victoria as Raphaelesque Madonna and the watercolours she executed herself as well as Albert’s significant collection of paintings, all join to reveal another inseparability: that of art and love in this family.

The exhibition is highly successful in providing an overwhelming sense of the richness and splendour of the royal family. Almost everything shines with gold, while two small rooms with Victoria and Albert’s ceremonial and personal jewels provide an impression that the viewer has stepped inside a jewellery casket. At the same time the uniqueness of the exhibition lies in the way it reveals the private side of the royal family’s life. We are privileged to view and contemplate a portrait of the young queen with her hair unfastened and with the medallion on her neck containing the lock of Albert’s hair, despite the fact that as a marriage gift this portrait was intended for Albert’s eyes only.

The exhibition implies that memory, both personal and publicly constructed, is inherent in most of the objects on show, and the exhibition ends with a powerful gesture of such memory: a watercolour of Albert’s bedroom (a space which was preserved intact after his death) and a model of Albert’s memorial that still now dominates the landscape of London. The exhibition blurs any line between public and private, presenting Victoria and Albert and their objects to us as a precious artwork in their own right.

Until Oct 31

ALISA OLEVA