Art Institute of Chicago

Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, India, etc., also called The Large Queen

George Baxter

Date

1859

Medium

Etching, mezzotint, and roulette on steel, printed in black, with color block printing, on ivory wove paper, varnished, laid down on original mount

Culture

England

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

George Baxter invented an innovative color printing technique to mass-produce commercial images that resembled oil paintings, earning him the epithet “The Picture Printer.” His Baxter Process integrated several traditional printing techniques, combining an intaglio “key” plate that printed the main features of the design with numerous relief color woodblocks. Baxter’s subjects varied from still-life imagery and genre scenes to images depicting important contemporary events. Here Queen Victoria is seated in state with the Crown of India on a cushion beside her. This print required 12 different color blocks and was released just after India was added to the British Empire.

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