Nicholas Matthew Condy (British, 1818-1851) The royal steam yacht Victoria...

Nicholas Matthew Condy (British, 1818-1851)
The royal steam yacht Victoria and Albert (I) off Plymouth
oil on board
30.1 x 40.4cm (11 7/8 x 15 7/8in).
Provenance
With The Royal Exchange Art Gallery, London.
Private collection, UK.

This painting depicts H.M.Y. Victoria and Albert at anchor in Barn Pool, Plymouth, with Mount Edgcumbe in the background. She was a twin-paddle steamer, launched 25 April 1843. She served as a royal yacht of the sovereign of the United Kingdom, owned and operated by the Royal Navy, and was the first of three royal yachts to be named Victoria and Albert as well as the first royal yacht to be steam powered. She was renamed Osborne after the launch of H.M.Y. Victoria and Albert on 16 January 1855, after which Her Majesty's yacht Osborne continued in service, conveying the Royal Family to their summer home, Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert undertook their maiden voyage aboard the yacht on 28 August 1843 to visit the King of the French, returning to Brighton on 7 September. This painting depicts the evening of 21 August 1846 after the Royal Family returned to Plymouth from Osborne House. Storms and rough seas had forced the yacht to abort their arrival three times, as the Queen described in her journal, 'All did well till we came to the Needles, & the sea became rougher than it ever was, making us all very ill. [...] I longed to be back at our dear Osborne again!'.

In this picture, throngs of adoring subjects wave from their boats as the monarch is rowed back to her yacht, having spent the day journeying along the River Tamar aboard the smaller H.M.Y. Fairy. In her journal entry written on this day, Queen Victoria describes this scene:

'The evening was quite beautiful, the sun so bright & the sky & sea so blue. As we approached the "Victoria & Albert", we were surrounded by myriads of boats & had to be rowed through them in our Barge. Remained on deck for a little while afterwards, & the evening was so beautiful'.

Condy also painted a series of scenes depicting the Queen's 1843 journey, four of which were reproduced by Louis Haghe as lithographs. A similar work to this present picture is The Royal Yacht lying in Barn-Pool her Majesty returning from her visit to Mount Edgcumbe, lithographs of which are held in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, however this particular painting was not reproduced.