King William IV (1765–1837) as the Duke of Clarence
studio of Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1793
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1499 x 1181 mm (59 x 46 1/2 in)
Collection
Fenton House, London
NT 1449345
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, King William IV (1765–1837) as the Duke of Clarence by Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830), 1790/95. A three-quarter-length portrait, three quarter facing, looking towards his left. With white cravat and dark blue coat with gold buttons and garter star on coat, which he received in 1782;white waistcoat and grey breeches. He holds a glove and cane in his left hand, hat in his right. The sea behind dark greenish brown, with stormy sky. The orginal of this portrait, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1793 (63), is in the collection of Lord de l'Isle and Dudley (the 1st Lord de L'Isle and Dudley was the husband of Sophia, one of the Duke of Clrence's daughters by Mrs Jordan). It can be seen in a prominent position in Andrew Morton's conversation piece of their children (exh. Childhood, Sotheby's 1988, no. 208). This picture also descended to Major Tom Goff (1867 - 1949) who gave it to the National Trust as part of the contents of The Courts, Holt. Another version is at Upton House (NT 446684).
Provenance
By descent from the sitter his one of his illegitimate children: Reverend Augustus FitzClarence (1805-1854), Rector of Mapledurham, Chaplain to Queen Victoria; his eldest daughter, Dorothea (1845 -1870), who in 1863 married Captain Thomas William Goff (d. 1876), of Oakport, Co. Roscommon, Ireland; his son, Major [Thomas] Clarence [Edward] Goff (1867 -1949); by whom given, along with The Courts, Holt, Wiltshire, and its other contents, to the National Trust in 1943
Credit line
Fenton House (on loan from The Courts, Holt), The Goff/Fitz-Clarence Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
studio of Sir Thomas Lawrence, PRA (Bristol 1769 – London 1830), artist
References
Garlick 1989 Kenneth Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence. A complete catalogue of the oil paintings, Oxford, 1989, no. 823