The Secret of England’s Greatness (Queen Victoria presenting a Bible in the audience chamber at Windsor, 1863)

Thomas J Barker’s “The Secret of England’s Greatness” really captures the seemingly intertwined themes of sovereignty and divinity. The idea of sovereignty is depicted through the two cultural figures, which are central focuses of the painting. The Queen’s alluring white dress accentuated with the purple banner creates connotations of royalty and prestige. Equally, the garments that Barker has depicted on the Ambassador are atypical to the attire worn by Britons in this period. However they are by no means less significant. The Ambassador wears an animal skin cape, lavish jewellery, and fine linens; Barker has localised England’s prestige to the Ambassador to indicate to the viewer that he is clearly of importance. This then raises the question about the fact that this is an Ambassador, as opposed to the actual leader. One could then argue that the garments worn represent the King. This then sparks the question of what the context was that disallowed the actual King to be there. Were there domestic problems he had to tend to? Was the Ambassador merely collecting “The Secret of England’s Greatness” as a means to resolve the greatness that they might had lacked?

Divinity is also explored because of how the non-physical concept of “greatness” is presented as something religious– a Bible. Given the context of a vastly religious 19th century Britain, the Bible is probably an allusion to God and his glory. However the fact that “greatness” is portrayed as a physical entity, leads one to think that it can be achieved by man. This is consolidated by the fact that Queen Victoria is handing the Bible to the Ambassador. It is a form of evangelism per say, declaring that “greatness” is achievable. Given the cultural differences between the Queen and Ambassador,