Regent's art history students recently had a talk from Rea Alexandratos, about her nearly 20-year career at the Royal Collection Trust at Windsor.
Until recently, Rea was coordinator for a project that involved researching and publishing catalogues of the Cassiano dal Pozzo Paper Museum - a collection of around 10,000 watercolours, drawings and prints assembled in the seventeenth century by the Roman patron and collector Cassiano dal Pozzo.
Most of the Dal Pozzo collection was acquired by George III in 1762. The works include images of architecture, zoology, botany and geology, social customs and ceremonies and costumes, and military maps forming what has been described as ‘a unique visual encyclopaedia’.
Rea started by speaking about how the Royal Collection Trust is different to other museums and galleries in the UK. She gave details about her work and showed many wonderful slides of objects from the Paper Museum as well as other highlights from the collection.
Rea gave students a unique insight into some other aspects of working at Windsor, including helping to prepare material for viewing by world leaders during state visits, and shared highlights of her career including co-authoring a book with Sir David Attenborough and being made a member of the Royal Victorian Order.
Regent's student, Anna Maffiuletti, commented: 'I really enjoyed Rea's talk. I believe that through her work she was able to connect her audience to the world of the Royal family, which to many may sound like a faraway reality. She understood the essential role of art which is to bring people together and I found this experience to be extremely enriching.'
Student Union Vice President, Anya Nikolaeva, observed: 'It was a very insightful talk, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed finding out the real ins and outs of how the Royal Collection functions alongside some fascinating facts about conservation, cataloguing and their business model.'
The students had many questions for Rea and found out about internship opportunities they could apply for, as well as more about her own career. This online talk was one of a series of events, organised by the Regent's art history lecturers for students to meet and get to know each other and learn more about the industry.