ABSTRACT
This painting from circa 1863 depicts Queen Victoria, with Prince Albert standing behind her, presenting a bible to a man in African clothing. Behind the anonymous African stand two major British statesmen of the mid-nineteenth century, Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, both of whom were active in pushing an aggressive and expansionist British foreign policy. The painting was reproduced as an engraving in 1864 with the title “The Bible: The Secret of England’s Greatness.”
