King George III (1738–1820)
Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, RA (London 1735 - Winchester 1811)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1768 - 1769 (exh at RA)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2339 x 1422 mm (92 x 56 in)
Order this imageCollection
Uppark House and Garden, West Sussex
NT 138273
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, King George III (1738–1820) by Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland RA (London 1735 – Winchester 1811), 1768/69. Full-length portrait, standing slightly right in ermine robes, his right hand at his side, his left resting on the crown on a table. This portrait of the Royal Academy's patron and that of his consort, NT/UPP/P/72, were shown at its first exhibition, which was held in premises provided by the King in Somerset House in 1769. Dance was one of the younger foundation RAs who had painted a similar full-length portrait of the King's brother, the Duke of York, in 1764 and an early piece of British Neo-classicism, 'Timon of Athens' the following year for the King (both Royal Collection). The Uppark portraits were perhaps acquired by Sir Matthew at the time Dance was painting his son in the 1770s.
Provenance
Early 19th century hanging-plans, in the Salonn: '10. George the Third Dance'; H. R. Bolton's bill for cleaning pictures, 28th Sept 1849, in the Saloon [the only picture]; ' 8 George the Third in his Robes Sir N. Dance'; and thence by inheritance and descent, until accepted in lieu of tax on the death of Admiral the Hon. Sir Herbert Meade-Fetherstonhaugh (1875-1964) in 1965 and transferred to the National Trust by the Treasury, September 1990.
Credit line
Uppark, The Fetherstonhaugh Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, RA (London 1735 - Winchester 1811), artist
References
Millar, 1969: Oliver Millar.The Later Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 1969, 2 vols, p. xii & n. 10