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King George II

2 of 57 portraits of King George II

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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King George II

studio of Charles Jervas
oil on canvas, circa 1727
86 1/2 in. x 50 1/2 in. (2197 mm x 1283 mm)
Purchased, 1873
Primary Collection
NPG 368

Sitterback to top

  • King George II (1683-1760), Reigned 1727-60. Sitter associated with 57 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Charles Jervas (1675-1739), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 40 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG 369: Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach (companion portrait)

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Cannadine, Sir David (Introduction); Cooper, Tarnya; Stewart, Louise; MacGibbon, Rab; Cox, Paul; Peltz, Lucy; Moorhouse, Paul; Broadley, Rosie; Jascot-Gill, Sabina, Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits, 2018 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA, 7 October 2018 -3 February 2019. Bendigo Art Gallery, Australia, 16 March - 14 July 2019.), p. 149 Read entry

    This is a version of the portrait commissioned by the Corporation of London after George II's coronation in 1727. The picture empoys similar conventions to those in his father's 1714 portrait. The king stands before a window through which can be seen Westminster Abbey, where he was crowned.

  • Kerslake, John, Early Georgian Portraits, 1977, p. 90
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 240

Events of 1727back to top

Current affairs

George I dies on 11 January. George II is proclaimed king; the second Hanoverian on the British throne. Handel composes Zadok the Priest for his coronation which has been sung at every British coronation since.
Royal Bank of Scotland is founded by Royal Charter in Edinburgh.
Janet (Jenny) Horne of Loth, Sutherland, becomes the last alleged witch to be executed in Britain when she is burned at the stake in Dornoch, Scotland.

Art and science

Artist Thomas Gainsborough is born in Sudbury, Suffolk in May.
Architect William Kent publishes Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones, including additional designs by himself and his patron Lord Burlington.German composer George Frideric Handel becomes a British subject.
Scientist Sir Isaac Newton dies.

International

Composer Johann Sebastian Bach conducts the first performance of his St Matthew Passion in St Thomas's church, Leipzig.
Spain besieges Gibraltar in order to recapture the territory from the British.

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