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Frederick, Duke of York and Albany; King George IV

8 of 73 portraits of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany

Frederick, Duke of York and Albany; King George IV, by Crowhurst of Brighton, circa 1827 -NPG 1691a - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Regency Portraits Catalogue

Frederick, Duke of York and Albany; King George IV

by Crowhurst of Brighton
circa 1827
12 1/2 in. x 9 3/8 in. (318 mm x 238 mm)
NPG 1691a

Inscriptionback to top

A trade card formerly on verso and now in registered packet in NPG archive reads: Profiles taken and finished in Black, Bronze, Blue-tint,/Cameo and Colours, by/CROWHURST, 40 Old Steine, BRIGHTON./ + + + + /Profiles accurately Copied, and every description of/frames for mounting of Profiles and Miniatures.

This portraitback to top

Both silhouettes clearly derive from George Atkinson's watercolour drawings engraved in stipple and aquatint by Scriven and published by Atkinson himself in Brighton 1825. In these the King stands in Windsor Park, the Duke in Brighton. Crowhurst who lived in the Brighton house formerly occupied by Atkinson would have had ready access to the Scriven prints and indeed advertised on his trade label, 'profiles accurately copied'. The silhouettes may possibly have been copied, joined together and issued to commemorate the Duke of York's death in 1827. The King was touchy about his profile which as can be seen here was less aristocratic than the Duke's: 'un petit nez retroussé cependant assez aimé' he wrote in his youth to Mary Hamilton.

Referenceback to top

McKechnie 1978
Sue McKechnie, British Silhouette Artists, 1978, pp 389, 706.

Physical descriptionback to top

Whole-length silhouette looking to left holding gloves, in company with his brother the Duke of York holding cane.

Provenanceback to top

Bought among a collection of silhouettes from C. Eskell van Noorden 1904 (NPG Annual Report, 1904-5, p 7).

Exhibitionsback to top

'Silhouettes', NPG and Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire 1972 (58), catalogue by Peggy Hickman.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

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