George IV as Prince of Wales
1781
Painter, British, 1754 - 1797
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall (oval): 76 x 63 cm (29 15/16 x 24 13/16 in.)
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Accession
1937.1.98
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Painted for the sitter, who presented it to James, 2nd earl of Courtown [1731-1810], County Wexford [Ireland], Treasurer of the Household and Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales;[1] by descent to James, 5th earl of Courtown [1823-1914], County Wexford. (Asher Wertheimer, London); sold September 1916 to (M. Knoedler & Co., London); sold October 196 to (Henry Reinhardt & Son, New York).[2] John N. Willys [1873-1935], Toledo, Ohio.[3] (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); purchased January 1918 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.;[4] deeded December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] Georgian Papers 26791, Royal Archives, Windsor Castle, under the year 1781: "A Head of His R:H: [Royal Highness] delivered by orders to Lady Courtown" at 31 pounds, 10 shillings; one of four portrait heads of the prince by Thomas Gainsborough given to friends by the sitter. Oliver Millar brought the passage to the Gallery's attention in a letter of 11 March 1964 to John Walker, NGA director (in NGA curatorial files).
[2] M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Painting Stock Book 6, 1911 December-1920 July, page 130, copy in NGA curatorial files; the painting was stock number 13944.
[3] Willys' name is included in a history of the painting prepared by Ross Watson, dated 18 July 1968, in NGA curatorial files. Willys was President of Willys-Overland Motors, Inc., Toledo, Ohio, and amassed a considerable art collection, part of which he later used to furnish his apartment at 820 Fifth Avenue, New York. He bought his British pictures from Agnew's and from Reinhardt & Son between 1910 and 1921; see Ralph Flint, "John N. Willys Collection," International Studio 80 (February 1925), 363-374, which does not mention this painting.
[4] M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Painting Stock Book 6, 1911 December-1920 July, page 163, copy in NGA curatorial files; the painting was stock number 14342.
Associated Names
- Stopford, 2nd earl of Courtown, James
- Stopford, 3rd earl of Courtown, James George
- George IV, Prince of Wales
- Stopford, 4th earl of Courtown, James Thomas
- Stopford, 5th earl of Courtown, James George Henry
- M. Knoedler & Company
- Henry Reinhardt & Son
- Wertheimer, Asher
- Willys, John N.
- Mellon, Andrew W.
- The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust
Exhibition History
1872
Arts, Industries, and Manufactures, and Loan Museum of Works of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Dublin, 1872, no. 228.
1995
Thomas Gainsborough: "The Harvest Wagon", Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1995, no. 19 (shown only in Toronto).
Bibliography
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 71, no. 98, as by Thomas Gainsborough.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 241, repro. 14, as by Thomas Gainsborough.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 110, repro.
1953
Waterhouse, Ellis Kirkham. "Preliminary Check List of Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough." Walpole Society 33 [1948-1950] (1953): 111.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 54, as by Thomas Gainsborough.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 47, repro., as by Thomas Gainsborough.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 144, repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 167, repro.
1992
Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 64-66, repro. 65.
Wikidata ID
Q20179058