George IV as Prince of Wales

1781

Gainsborough Dupont

Painter, British, 1754 - 1797

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall (oval): 76 x 63 cm (29 15/16 x 24 13/16 in.)

  • 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

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

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