King George III (1738-1820) as Prince of Wales (after Allan Ramsay)
William Wynne Ryland (London 1733 – Tyburn 1783)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1757 (after) - 1761
Materials
Paper,wood and glass
Measurements
588 x 381 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 871191
Summary
Print, engraving, King George III (1738-1820) as Prince of Wales (after Allan Ramsay) by William Wynne Ryland (London 1733 – Tyburn 1783), 1761/2. This print is after the official state portrait of 1757-8 (letter of 12 August 1758 to John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute saying it was dry enough for dispatch), before he was King, painted by the Scottish artist Allan Ramsay, shortly after his return from Italy, of which there is painted version in the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama. George III, who reigned 1760-1820, is dressed in ceremonial robes and wears the insignia of the Order of the Garter, the oldest order of knighthood: the pendant of St George, patron saint of England and of the Order, suspended from the chain; the Star, glimpsed on the left breast; and the Garter, visible on the left leg below the knee. The letters “Y PENS” wrapped around the garter are from the Order’s motto: “Honi soit qui mal y pense” (evil to him who evil thinks). The original painting is at the Earl of Bute's seat, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute, Scotland. It was at Luton Park in 1799. (Smart and Ingamells 1999, 191). There is a chalk drawing, dated October 12 1757, in the pose, in the National Gallery, Scotland (D. 242).
Provenance
A print of George III is listed as at Saltram (North Bow) in a list c.1900 in the hand of Albert Edmund Parker (1843-1905), 3rd Earl of Morley and by descent to Montagu Brownlow Parker (1878-1962), 5th Earl of Morley and formed part of the endowment given to NT after the transfer in 1957.
Makers and roles
William Wynne Ryland (London 1733 – Tyburn 1783), engraver after Allan Ramsay (Edinburgh 1713 - Dover 1784), artist
References
Smart and Ingamells 1999 Alastair Smart and John Ingamells (ed.), Allan Ramsay A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London, Yale, 1999, no. 191, p. 111, fig. 483, pl. 26