Allegorical Scene with the Prince of Wales, later George IV (1762-1830) and Friends in a Boat: Mrs Maria Anne (née Smythe) Fitzherbert (1756-1837), Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), Elizabeth Linley, Mrs Sheridan (1754-1792), Jacob Pleydell Bouverie, 2nd Earl of Earl of Radnor (1749-1828) and Elizabeth Stephens, Mrs William Hallett (1764-1833)
attributed to Henry Tresham, RA (Dublin 1756 – London 1814)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1787 - 1789
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1408 x 1105 mm (55 1/2 x 43 1/2 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 207793
Caption
The Prince of Wales (later George IV), in the centre of the picture, gazes ardently at his mistress, Mrs Fitzherbert, with whom he lived from 1785 to 1803; to the left are the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan and a woman labelled as ‘Miss Stephens’ (probably an anachronistic identification with the singer who became Countess of Essex); in front are Elizabeth Linley, Mrs Sheridan (d.1792), and Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 2nd Earl of Radnor. The scene is probably an allegory of the reconciliation affected by Sheridan between Mrs Fitzherbert and the Prince of Wales in 1787 after Fox had disavowed their marriage to Parliament, apparently on the authority of the Prince, to ensure that the settlement of the latter’s debts was voted through. This picture was once owned by the Sheridan family.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Allegorical Scene with the Prince of Wales, later George IV (1762-1830), and Friends in a Boat, attributed to Henry Tresham, RA (Dublin 1756 – London 1814), circa 1787/89. The Prince of Wales (later George IV), in the centre, gazes ardently at his mistress, Mrs Fitzherbert, with whom he lived from 1785 to 1803; to the left are the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan and a woman labelled as Miss Stephens (probably an anachronistic identification with the singer who became Countess of Essex); in front, Elizabeth Linley, Mrs Sheridan (d.1792), and Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 2nd Earl of Radnor. The scene is probably an allegory of the reconciliation effected by Sheridan between Mrs Fitzherbert and the Prince of Wales in 1787, after Fox had disavowed their marriage to Parliament, apparently on the authority of the Prince, to ensure that the settlement of the latter's debts was voted through. Once owned by the Sheridan family.
Provenance
The Sheridan family, Frampton Court, Dorset; bequeathed by Elsie Kipling, Mrs George Bambridge (1896 - 1976), daughter of Rudyard Kipling, to the National Trust together with Wimpole Hall, all its contents and an estate of 3,000 acres
Credit line
Wimpole Hall, The Bambridge Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
attributed to Henry Tresham, RA (Dublin 1756 – London 1814), artist previously catalogued as attributed to The Rev. Matthew William Peters, RA (Freshwater 1742 – Brasted 1814), artist