Portrait Miniature of George IV as Prince Regent (1762-1830) 1830
Henry Bone RA (1755-1834)
![Portrait Miniature of George IV as Prince Regent (1762-1830) 1830 [1]](/admin/resources/2554.jpg)
“This enamel, produced several times over by Bone to meet the Prince’s demands, was a favourite gift distributed to friends and loyal officials.”
Materials:
Enamel on gold
Dimensions:
Oval, height 1 ¼ inches; 3.5 cm
Provenance:
- Christie’s, London, 8 June 1971, lot 46 (bought for 170 gns. by Limner Antiques)
- Mr & Mrs Tom Southern Collection
Literature:
Richard Walker, Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, the 18th and 19th Centuries, 1992, pp.281-284, illustrations 757-765
Inscriptions:
Inscribed on the reverse in Bone’s hand; ‘His Majesty/George 4th/London April 1830 Painted by H. Bone/RA Enamel painter/to the King and the/late Duke of York/after the original picture by Sr. Tho. Lawrence P.R.A.'
The Prince is shown wearing Field Marshall's scarlet uniform with gold epaulette, collar and tied black stock, the Order of the Fleece around his neck and the breast star of the Order of the Garter, St Andrew, Black Eagle and Holy Spirit pinned to his breast.
This enamel portrait miniature, produced several times over by Bone to meet the Prince’s demands, was a favourite gift distributed to friends and loyal officials. In 1826, a version was presented to the Prince’s young niece, the future Queen Victoria ,1 (who was later portrayed wearing this in a portrait miniature by Anthony Stewart ,2).
Based on Sir Thomas Lawrence’s portrait of 1814 ,3, Bone began to produce enamel variants soon after the oil went on public display 4.
Most versions by Bone date between 1815 and 1820, but the current portrait miniature enamel predates the King’s death by just two months. The grateful recipient of this enamel would soon have cause to wear it as mourning jewellery.
By the time he died, George had reigned for ten years and no longer resembled the slim Prince portrayed by Lawrence over fifteen years earlier. This romantic image of the young man, in striking red uniform, was, by 1830, far removed from the reality of the corpulent, laudanum-dependent king and would have made for a flattering epitaph.
1 Fulford, George IV, pp.198-9
2 This miniature was sold at Bonhams & Brooks, London, 6 March 2001, lot 308 (dated 1832)
3 This oil was Lawrence’s first portrait of the Prince and was commissioned by Lord Charles Stuart (cf. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1989, no.325c)
4 A drawing by Bone, after the oil by Lawrence, exists in the NPG library (recorded in vol.1 p.81, R. Walker, Henry Bone’s Pencil Drawings, The Walpole Society, LXI, 1999, p.327 no.218). This drawing is dated 1816; however, earlier enamel versions (for example, one dated 1815 in the Princess Royal’s sale, Christie’s 28 June 1966) suggest that Bone reproduced the oil in enamels immediately after the exhibition of the painting at the R.A. in 1815.