Why see it?
The “dissected maps” in their specially constructed cabinet are among the first jigsaws.
They belonged to Lady Charlotte Finch, who was governess to all fifteen of Queen Charlotte’s children.
Lady Charlotte taught both princes and princesses up to the time of their more formal education which began at about the age of eight.
In their geography lessons, the royal children were given the jigsaw maps to assemble or blank dissected maps to identify and correctly label.
Queen Charlotte thought geography an important subject for study and gave her daughter Princess Elizabeth Palairet’s Elementary and Methodical Atlas for her tenth birthday.
In their early years of education, the children learnt English, French, German, geography, elementary science, history and writing as well as art, dancing and music.
In addition the boys learnt fencing and the girls had lessons in botany.
More information?
The Art Fund purchased this unique cabinet of jigsaw maps, which it has generously given to Historic Royal Palaces and the V&A Museum of Childhood.
The historically important cabinet and selected maps are now displayed at Kew Palace, King George’s countryside retreat.
Historic Royal Palaces lost out to a foreign buyer when the cabinet and jigsaw maps came up at auction in 2000. Culture minister David Lammy placed an export bar on the cabinet, and Historic Royal Palaces joined forces with the V&A Museum of Childhood to try and purchase the work.
The Art Fund, keen to see the cabinet enjoyed by the public in Britain, stepped in, buying it outright for £120,000 and presenting it as a gift to Historic Royal Palaces and the V&A Museum of Childhood. They now jointly share the display and ownership of the cabinet.
The Art Fund is the UK’s leading independent art charity.
It offers grants to help UK museums and galleries enrich their collections and campaigns widely on behalf of museums and their visitors. It has 80,000 members. Visit the charity’s website at www.artfund.org.
