King George III and his Family
Thomas Stothard (London 1755 - London 1834)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1787
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
495 x 648 mm (19 1/2 x 25 1/2 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Upton House, Warwickshire
NT 446706
Caption
It is not entirely clear how this portrait came to be painted, because Stothard is not known to have ever worked directly for the Royal family. It must either have been a speculative undertaking or a private commission. The artist painted at least one similar subject, ‘The Marriage of the Prince of Wales’, but again, little is known of its commission. Stothard would not have secured actual sittings with the Royal family for such an informal project, but would have used a variety of different existing representations of the various sitters. The identities of the various Royal children can be ascertained with reference to a stipple engraving of 1820, in which the sitters are numbered in order of their birth.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, King George III and his Family, by Thomas Stothard RA (London 1755 - London 1834), 1787. This full-length group portrait painted in 1787, shows the King and Queen seated, surrounded by members of their family.They are, from left to right: George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV (1762 - 1830); Prince Frederick, Duke of York (1763 - 1827); Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, later King William IV (1765 - 1837); Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (1767 - 1820); Prince Augustus-Frederick, later Duke of Sussex (1773 - 1843); Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover (1771 - 1851); King George III (1738 - 1820); Queen Charlotte (1744 - 1818); Princess Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg (1770 - 1840); Princess Augusta-Sophia (1768 - 1840); Princess Charlotte-Augusta-Matilda, Princess Royal, Queen of Wüttemburg (1760 - 1828); Princes Amelia (1783 - 1810); Princess Sophia (1777 - 1848); Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester (1776 - 1857); and Prince Adolphus-Frederick, later Duke of Cambridge (1774 - 1850).
Provenance
Presumably still in the possession of the painter in 1794, when it was first engraved, but not in his posthumous sale, Christie’s, 17-19 June 1834; owned by Louis Huth, Esq (1821 - 1905) of Possingworth, East Sussex in 1884, when exhibited at Royal Academy and until his death in 1905; (Huth sale, 19 May 1905); bought by Sir Marcus Samuel, Bt, later 1st Viscount Bearsted (at Christie’s ?) before 1919 and included in the ms. list of his Pictures, 1919, with additions, 1920;given with Upton House to the National Trust by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted (1882 – 1948), in 1948, shortly before his death
Credit line
Upton House, The Bearsted Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: Top rail of frame: paper label reading: Royal Academy Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters 1884 / Name of Artist: Stothard / Name of Painting: George III and his Family / Proprietor: Louis Huss [sic] Esq. Possingworth, Essex Verso: Christie's lot sticker (top right hand corner): 751 Verso: Paper exhibition label (bottom left hand corner) Burlington House 1884 and number: 426
Makers and roles
Thomas Stothard (London 1755 - London 1834), artist previously catalogued as attributed to Richard Livesay (1750 – Southsea 1826), artist