DANIEL MCDOWELL (IRISH b.1820)

Portrait of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VII

pastel and coloured chalks

signed and dated McDowell 1851 (lower left)

71.5 x 61 cm (28 x 24 in)

The young Prince of Wales was first given a scaled-down version of a sailors uniform worn by ratings on the Royal Yacht, aged four. He wore it during a cruise off the Channel Islands and delighted his mother and public alike. Popular engravings spread the idea and by the 1870s the sailor suit became normal dress for boys all over the world.