Edwin Long - Gibraltar; from the series 'Daughters of Our Empire'

High on the Rock that fronts the sea
Stands alone our fortress key
Lady of the Southern main

Price Realized £16,730

signed with monogram and dated 1886 (lower right) and with inscription '"Gibraltar" by E. Long R.A. One of the series of "Beauty" pictures Copyright registersed by Thos. Agnew & Sons' (on an old label on the reverse)
oil on canvas
32 1/8 x 41 1/8 in. (81.5 x 104.4 cm.)

London, Agnew's, 1887, no. 15.

This picture was one of a series of twenty commissioned by the London dealers Agnew's to celebrate the Royal Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Various 'Daughters of Empire' were depicted in their national costumes. These included Aden; Bethlehem; India; Wales; Australia; Canada; Cyprus (Ancient: Love's Messenger, and Modern); Egypt; England: the Parson's Daughter, The Violet, The Rose (a portrait of Princess May of Teck, later Queen Mary, wife of King George V), The Primrose, The Little Sister of the Poor; Ireland; Jamaica; Malta; Scotland and Trinidad.