Portrait of Queen Charlotte
Portrait of Queen Charlotte | |
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Artist | Thomas Lawrence |
Year | 1789 |
Type | Oil on canvas, portrait |
Dimensions | 239.5 cm × 147 cm (94.3 in × 58 in) |
Location | National Gallery, London |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Self-Portrait-1788%29_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence%2C_PRA.jpg/200px-Self-Portrait-1788%29_by_Sir_Thomas_Lawrence%2C_PRA.jpg)
Portrait of Queen Charlotte is a 1789 portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the British queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Lawrence had emerged as a child prodigy and had been painting society portraits in Bath for a number of years before relocating to London. Lawrence was twenty when he painted Queen Charlotte. It represented a major commission for him and the first time he painted a member of the British royal family. It followed the Regency Crisis of 1788 when an outbreak of mental illness nearly led to her husband, King George III, being deprived of his constitutional powers, and the strain is considered to be reflected in the portrait.[1] He painted her at Windsor Castle and nearby Eton College can be seen in the background.[2]
It was exhibited at the Royal Academy the following year. Although considered a resounding success[3] neither the King nor Queen cared for it and it was not acquired for the Royal Collection. Within a few years Lawrence would be Britain's pre-eminent portrait painter, known particularly for his depictions of the Regency era elite and was commissioned by Charlotte's son George to paint European leaders following the victory over Napoleon. His painting of Charlotte is now in the collection of the National Gallery in London.
Regarding the debate over Charlotte's possible African ancestry, it has been cited as a work that portrays no suggestion of this in contrast to other depictions such as Allan Ramsay's 1761 coronation portrait.[4]
See also
- Portrait of George IV, 1821 portrait by Lawrence of Charlotte's son in his coronation robes
References
Bibliography
- Chilvers, Ian. The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. Oxford University Press, 2015.
- Haehnel, Birgit & Ulz, Melanie. Slavery in Art and Literature: Approaches to Trauma, Memory and Visuality. Frank & Timme, 2010.
- Norrie, Aidan, Harris, Carolyn, Laynesmith, J.L., Messer, Danna R. and Woodacre, Elena (ed.) Hanoverian to Windsor Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty. Springer Nature, 2023.
- Levey, Michael. Sir Thomas Lawrence. Yale University Press, 2005.
- v
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- Portrait of William Linley (1788)
- Portrait of Queen Charlotte (1789)
- Portrait of Elizabeth Farren, Later Countess of Derby (c. 1790)
- Pinkie (1794)
- Portrait of Lord Hawkesbury (1796)
- Portrait of Sir Edward Pellew (1797)
- Caroline, Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte (1801)
- Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1804)
- Portrait of Sir John Moore (c.1804)
- Portrait of Lord Melbourne (1805)
- Portrait of George III (1809)
- Portrait of Lord Castlereagh (1809)
- Portrait of Benjamin West (1810)
- John Philip Kemble as Cato (1812)
- Portrait of Sir Charles Stewart (1812)
- Portrait of the Marquess Wellesley (1813)
- Portrait of Marshal Blücher (1814)
- Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (c. 1815–1816)
- Portrait of the Duke of Richelieu (1818)
- Portrait of Francis I of Austria (1819)
- Portrait of Lord Liverpool (1820)
- Portrait of George IV (1821)
- Portrait of Frederick Robinson (1824)
- Portrait of Charles X (1825)
- Portrait of the Duchess of Berry (1825)
- The Red Boy (1825)
- Portrait of George Canning (1826)
- Portrait of Sir Walter Scott (1826)
- Portrait of Julia, Lady Peel (1827)