Apotheosis of the Royal Family: George III (1738-1820), Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744-1818), Charlotte Augusta Matilda, Princess Royal (1754-1816), Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of Brunswick (1768-1821), Prince Octavius (1779-1783), Prince Alfred (1780-1782), Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany, and Earl of Ulster (1762-1827), Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Earl of Dublin (1767-1820), Princess Amelia (1783-1810), Princess Charlotte (1796-1817) and her Still-born Son (1817)
British (English) School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1829
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
699 x 572 mm (27 1/2 x 22 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 207797
Caption
At the bottom of the picture, the figure of Britannia mourns at a tomb, with a grieving lion and a unicorn by her side, and Windsor Castle silhouetted in the background. The royal family are shown in the heavens, with George III wearing an ermine cloak, and holding in his arms Prince Octavius and Prince Albert. Behind him stand the Dukes of York and Kent. In the left-hand group (reading clockwise from the top) are: Princess Amelia, Queen Charlotte, Princess Charlotte, holding up her still-born child to the King, Caroline of Brunswick and Charlotte Princess Royal. With the exception of the King and Queen, who are crowned, each figure has a star above its head. The point of this amateur picture was possibly to symbolise the lack of an heir to George IV. By 1829 all the figures depicted had died.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Apotheosis of the Royal Family, British (English) School, signed and dated: ? PAINTED by J…. Briton/Brown [?] 1829 - A Patriot Brit…; inscribed on the plinth of a tomb, bottom centre:[QUEEN] CHARLOTTE / [YO]RK & KENT OCTAVIUS & ARTHUR / WIRTEMBURG & QUEEN CAROLINE / AMELIA PRINC[ESS] CHARLOTTE / SAXE COBURG - 1829. This collection of portraits, depicts Britannia mourning the deceased members of George IV's family, and their reunion in heaven. George III (d.1820), carrying the two young princes who died in infancy, Octavius (d.1783) and Alfred (d.1782), rises to meet Queen Charlotte (d.1818); behind him are their sons, the Dukes of York (d.1827) and Kent (d.1820); above her are their daughters, Charlotte, Queen of Wurtemberg (d.1828), and Amelia (d.1810), with to the left George IV's repudiated Queen, Caroline (d.1821); beside her, her daughter by George IV, Princess Charlotte, and the still-born child she died giving birth to (d.1817). Sotheby's 1939 Inventory has this by Mather Brown.
Full description
The figure of Britannia mourns at an inscribed tomb. On either side of which is a grieving lion and unicorn; in the sky the Apotheosis; in the background Windsor Castle. In the lower portion of the painting: the figure of Britannia, dressed in a white chemise, and a blue cloak edged with red, her head in her arms, lies mourning over a stone tomb which has a drape on the top, which partially obscures the inscription carved on it; her trident and oval shield, painted with the union-jack, lies propped in front; the head of a grieving unicorn emerges from the back of the right side of the tomb, eyes closed, and a lion’s head from the back of the tomb on the left; in the background at the right is Windsor Castle seen in silhouette against the sky; at the top of the picture, in the cloudy heavens, are three angels playing harps, one on the left and two on the right, they look down on two groups of figures rising to the heavens, on the right hand is George III wearing an ermine cloak and holding in his arms two very young children wearing flowing robes, Prince Octavius and Prince Alfred; behind him to the right are the Dukes of York and Kent. In the left-hand group (reading clockwise from the top are) are Princess Amelia, Queen Charlotte, the still-born child of Princess Charlotte, Princess Charlotte who holds her child up to the King, Caroline of Brunswick and finally Charlotte Princess Royal. With the exception of the King and Queen, who are crowned, each figure has a star above its head. The point of this very feeble painting is presumably to symbolise the lack of an heir to George IV [this is dubious – there were four of his brothers still alive, and Princess Victoria; the death of Princess Charlotte was too long in the past, and George IV seems peripheral to the scene] By 1829 all the figures depicted had died – Arthur (1782), Octavius (1783), Amelia (1810), Princess Charlotte (1817) George III (1820), Duke of Kent, (1820), Caroline of Brunswick (1821) Duke of York (1827) Princess Royal (1828).
Provenance
This painting was left to the National Trust together with Wimpole Hall, all its contents and an estate of 3,000 acres by Elsie Kipling, Mrs George Bambridge (1896-1976)
Credit line
Wimpole Hall, The Bambridge Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
indistinctly signed: Painted by ... Briton 1829
Makers and roles
British (English) School, artist