George IV (1762–1830), When Prince of Wales

The Prince of Wales may have been the only member of George III’s family who did not particularly admire Beechey; he preferred Hoppner. Nevertheless, in 1798, Beechey presented to the Royal Academy as his diploma work a standing three-quarter-length portrait of the prince in the uniform of the Tenth Light Dragoons, wearing the star of the Order of the Garter and holding a saber in his right hand (Royal Academy of Arts, London). A later variant in the Royal Collection was painted for Edward, Duke of Kent, at the sitter’s command. Beechey's receipt for eighty-four pounds, plus ten guineas for the frame, is dated January 26, 1807. He states that he painted it in 1803 and describes it as a “Bishop’s Half length,” that is, fifty and one-half by forty inches. He also mentions that the prince proposed to sit for him briefly for alterations to the hair, which does in fact differ from that in the first version (see Millar 1969).

The Museum’s painting is a replica, differing in many small details, of the earlier, Royal Academy picture. The question is whether the canvas is at least in part by Beechey, an artist whose work is extremely uneven in quality. This seems possible, though the schematic, rather lifeless painting of the uniform indicates a studio assistant. The canvas was flattened in lining, and there is an old tear that is partly visible below the tassels on the left side.

[2010; adapted from Baetjer 2009]

?Lord Newton (until 1946; sale, Sotheby's, London, July 17, 1946, no. 65, as "George IV, wearing the Star of the Garter, the right hand resting on his sword, turned left," 55 x 43 in., for £18 to Koetser); Josephine Mercy Heathcote Haskell, New York (until d. 1982); Heathcote Art Foundation (1982–86)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of London Firearms," January 29, 2019–January 29, 2020, no catalogue.

Oliver Millar. The Later Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen. London, 1969, vol. 1, p. 8, mentions a copy of the Royal Collection portrait that had belonged to Lord Newton, sold at Sotheby's in 1946 [possibly this picture].

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 194, ill.

Katharine Baetjer. British Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1575–1875. New York, 2009, pp. 154–55, no. 74, ill. (color), states that although the work may be partly by Beechey himself, "the schematic, rather lifeless painting of the uniform indicates a studio assistant".