GUGLIELMO FAIJA (ITALIAN, 1803-1873)

Alexandra, Princess of Wales (1844-1925) was the second child of Christian IX of Denmark (1818-1906) and Louise of Hesse-Kassel (1817-1898). She married, in 1863, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (1841-1910), becoming Princess of Wales until 1901, the longest anyone has held this title. On the death of Queen Victoria, she became Queen Alexandra, Empress Consort of Edward VII. After the death of her eldest son, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (1864-1892), her second son, George, Duke of York (1865-1936) succeeded his father in 1910, as King George V.
Guglielmo Faija (1803-1873) was born in Sicily and trained in Naples and in Paris, where he exhibited at the Salon (1831-37), before coming to London to exhibit at the Royal Academy (1838-48). His first royal commission came in 1845 and was to mark the beginning of two decades of patronage by the royal family, who instructed Faija to produce copies of portraits to be distributed as gifts. Sixty-eight works by Faija remain in the Royal Collection today. He was also the first miniaturist to conserve the collection of portrait miniatures at Windsor Castle, starting a programme of conservation in 1860.