The Peculiar Print
Three Royals in One
Standing in front of this portrait of Queen Victoria you might wonder why there are vertical lines running through it but stepping to either side solves this mystery. A step to the right reveals a portrait of Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and a step to the left reveals a portrait of his wife, Alexandra of Denmark, the Princess of Wales.
The technique used to create this quite remarkable and rare three-way image is called a ‘tabula stritta’ or ‘triscenorama.’ In this case, the effect is created by placing perpendicular slats on top of an image. On either side of the slats are different images only visible when looking at the picture from a certain angle. So, in this case, if you were to take a step to the right, the image would become a portrait of Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, while a step to the left would reveal a portrait of his wife, Alexandra of Denmark, the Princess of Wales.
The print was produced by Raphael Tuck & Sons of London and was a wedding gift to Robert George Bowden (1857–1914) and Eliza Ellen Mills (1860–1945) upon their marriage at Narracoorte, South Australia in 1882. Bowden and his brother-in-law James Farmer Butterworth, who was married to Eliza’s sister Alice (1856–1893), ran a butchery in Narracoorte until October 1882.
In January 1883, the two families left Narracoorte under somewhat suspicious circumstances and moved east. After spending a couple of years in Sydney, the Bowden family settled in Albury where Robert resumed his trade as a butcher and purchased land on the corner of Guinea and David streets.
The print eventually passed onto Alice Roach (nee Heriot) (1920–2011) of ‘Wycombe,’ Robert and Eliza’s granddaughter by their daughter Leila (1890–1976). An intriguing journey for a most ingenious image.
