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King George IV

1 of 14 portraits by Graves & Warmsley

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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King George IV

by P. Thomas, published by Graves & Warmsley, after Sir Thomas Lawrence
mixed-method engraving, published 1841
16 1/4 in. x 11 1/4 in. (412 mm x 287 mm) plate size; 19 in. x 11 3/4 in. (483 mm x 300 mm) paper size
Acquired, 1957
Reference Collection
NPG D33349

Sitterback to top

  • King George IV (1762-1830), Regent 1811-19; Reigned 1820-30. Sitter associated with 274 portraits.

Artistsback to top

  • Graves & Warmsley (active 1841-1843), Printsellers. Artist or producer associated with 14 portraits.
  • Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), Portrait painter, collector and President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 696 portraits, Sitter in 25 portraits.
  • P. Thomas (active 1841), Engraver. Artist or producer associated with 2 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Originally painted in 1822, this portrait dates after the death of his daughter Princess Charlotte, but, in portraying the Prince Regent in a more relaxed fashion, suggests his more private persona that she would have experienced. Having married her mother, Princess Caroline, for mercenary reasons, he was drunk on their wedding day. Despite their short-lived union, they conceived Charlotte. The relationship between father and daughter was also turbulent. As she grew up, the prince viewed his heir with increasing suspicion and, aware of her popularity, attempted to keep her out of sight. Charlotte raged at his tyranny, but still craved his attention.

Related worksback to top

Placesback to top

Events of 1841back to top

Current affairs

Sir Robert Peel's second term as Prime Minister. Peel replaces the Whig Prime Minister Lord Melbourne after a Conservative general election victory. The English comic periodical Punch is first published, under the auspices of engraver Ebenezer Landells and writer Henry Mayhew, and quickly establishes itself as a radical commentary on the arts, politics and current affairs, notable for its heavily satirised cartoons.

Art and science

Thomas Carlyle publishes his set of lectures On Heroes and Hero Worship, in which he attempts to connect past heroic figures to significant figures form the present.
William Henry Fox Talbot invents the calotype process, in which photographs were developed from negatives. This allowed for multiple copies of images to be made, and was the basis of modern, pre-digital, photographic processing.

International

Signing of the Straits Convention, an international agreement between Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, Russia and Turkey, denying access to non-Ottoman warships through the seas connecting the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, a major concession by Russia. Whilst signalling a spirit of co-operation, the convention emphasises the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

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