Queen Victoria

This doll, representing Queen Victoria was likely to have been made by Augusta & Napoleon Montanari for inclusion in their prize-winning exhibit at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Corsican born, Napoleon Montanari and his English wife Augusta were the biggest names in London's luxury doll business in the second half of the nineteenth century. Their skilled wax modelling and attention to detail was much admired but the high cost of their dolls was often criticised. Dolls representing Queen Victoria and her children were hugely popular in the mid 19th century. Known as 'model' dolls they were purchased as objects to be admired, rather than played with.

The 'Soho Bazaar' label on the doll refers to the fancy goods market in Soho Square where the Montanaris sold their dolls. The hugely popular Soho Bazaar was owned and built by John Trotter, who had made his fortune supplying the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Concerned with the financial distress of the widows and daughters of Army Officers and anxious to stop the country from pouring 'its happy and innocent virgins into the common sink of London' he converted one of his warehouses into an indoor market for the encouragement of Female and Domestic Industry. Here, from 1816 widows and young women could sell homemade goods such as gloves, lace and jewellery and earn an income. As the Bazaar became more successful so the range of goods on sale increased and it moved away from its original purpose and became open to more professioner manufacturers such as the Montanaris. The business thrived for many years but finally closed in the 1880s.