A MUSEUM is set to host an exhibition on loan from the Queen.

The Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, will host an exhibition of watercolours, from the Royal Collection.

The Museum is one of only four venues in the UK to stage Queen Victoria in Paris, an exhibition of watercolours commissioned by the monarch as a souvenir of her momentous ten-day state visit to Paris in August 1855.

The paintings provide both a record and a legacy of the opulence, pomp and pageantry surrounding the trip.

The visit by the royal party, which included Prince Albert and the couple’s two eldest children, Victoria and Albert Edward, marked a turning point in Anglo-French relations, strained since the defeat of Napoleon I at Waterloo 40 years earlier.

The thaw began when Bonaparte’s nephew, the self-appointed Napoleon III, and his wife the Empress Eugénie, keen to reconcile France with Britain, visited the Queen at Windsor Castle in the spring of 1855 at the suggestion of Prince Albert. Initially mistrustful, Victoria was soon captivated, and delighted to accept the Emperor’s reciprocal invitation to visit Paris in August of that year.

Queen Victoria visited during the Exposition Universelle, the international exhibition of fine arts and industry – closely modelled on her husband’s Great Exhibition staged at London’s Crystal Palace in 1851.

The period coincides with the time when John and Joséphine Bowes were living in Paris and forming the collection that would become The Bowes Museum, meaning they would have attended some of the festivities.

As a passionate collector of watercolours since the early 1850s, those featured in the exhibition were either commissioned by Queen Victoria or presented as gifts by the artists as a souvenir of her visit.

Three of her own works made during the Paris tour are included in the exhibition, which opens on 24 March 2018, running until 24 June.

Adrian Jenkins, Director of The Bowes Museum, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to share with our visitors these beautifully preserved watercolours, generously loaned by Her Majesty The Queen from the Royal Collection.”

The exhibition will be complemented by a programme of events.

For more information about the exhibition visit thebowesmuseum.org.uk