King George V
11 of 488 portraits of King George V
© estate of Max Beerbohm
King George V
by Sir Max Beerbohm
pencil and watercolour, 1911
12 3/4 in. x 6 7/8 in. (324 mm x 175 mm)
Purchased, 1994
Primary Collection
NPG 6308
Artistback to top
- Sir Henry Maximilian ('Max') Beerbohm (1872-1956), Writer and caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 29 portraits, Sitter associated with 19 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Dating from the year after George V's accession to the throne, this appears to be one of the earliest drawings of the King by Beerbohm. Although the pop eyes and looming presence are hardly kind, the artist had some sympathy for the King, writing in 1914 that he was 'such a piteous, good, feeble, heroic little figure'.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 242
Events of 1911back to top
Current affairs
Asquith's Liberal government introduces the Parliament Act to curb the powers of the House of Lords following the clash between the Commons and Lords over the 1909 People's Budget. The Act removed the Lords' power to veto bills, reduced the length of Parliament from seven to five years, and provided for the payment of MPs.Art and science
Ernest Rutherford discovers the structure of the atom. The New Zealand born physicist working in Manchester showed with his Nuclear Model that electrons orbited a nucleus composed of protons and neutrons. The discovery paved the way for nuclear physics.International
The Polish Chemist, Marie Curie, becomes the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for her discovery in 1898 of the radioactive element, Radon.The Mona Lisa is stolen from the Louvre. The masterpiece was missing for two years, during which time suspicion fell on avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire and his friend Pablo Picasso, before Vincenzo Peruggia, an employee of the Louvre, was arrested in Florence.
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