Watercolour by Princess Victoria

As a child, Princess (later Queen) Victoria was a passionate devotee of the Italian opera. In the late 1820s and 1830s, when the most celebrated interpreters of Italian opera came to London, she visited the theatre as often as three times a week. In this watercolour the 17-year-old Princess depicts the finale ('Padre tu piangi!') from Bellini's Norma, performed by the Princess's singing teacher Luigi Lablache, with Giulia Grisi