Both floral still-lifes, one features purple irises in a green vase, the other a vibrant mix of pink, yellow, orange and white blooms in a blue vase resting on yellow fabric.
Pitched at £8000-10,000 each at Hansons London (25% buyer’s premium) in Teddington on January 28, the irises example took £9500 while the mixed flowers went at £10,000. Both measured 2ft 7in x 13in (80 x 33cm).
The paintings are thought to have been bought at an Isle of Wight auction in 1944.
Queen Victoria oil painting of irises, £9500 at Hansons London.
Chris Kirkham, associate director of Hansons London, said: “The royal items were purchased decades ago by the seller’s grandfather. He lived on the Isle of Wight and we understand he acquired them at a sale which offered items relating to Osborne House, the queen’s holiday home on the island. Both paintings bear letters of provenance on the reverse.
“The isle is home to Carisbrooke Castle Museum. It was founded in 1898 by Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter. The princess died in 1944 and a sale of some items took place around that time.”
The letters, dated October 1945, state: “With reference to the two pictures said to have been painted by Queen Victoria, which you bought at the Carisbrooke sale. I have since seen Lord Carisbrooke and he says there is no doubt that they were in fact painted by the late Queen Victoria.”
The lord was Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, the last surviving grandson of Victoria. He was born Prince Alexander Albert of Battenberg in 1886 and died in 1960 at the age of 73.
