Sir Thomas Lawrence was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at the Bear Hotel in the Market Square. At age ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his pastel portraits. At 18, he went to London and soon established his reputation as a portrait painter in oils, receiving his first royal commission, a portrait of Queen Charlotte, in 1789. He stayed at the top of his profession until his death, aged 60, in 1830.
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until her death in 1818. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As George's wife, she was also Electress of Hanover until becoming Queen of Hanover on 12 October 1814. Charlotte was Britain's longest-serving queen consort, serving for 57 years and 70 days.
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square.
Sir George Hayter was an English painter, specialising in portraits and large works involving sometimes several hundred individual portraits. Queen Victoria appreciated his merits and appointed Hayter her Principal Painter in Ordinary and also awarded him a Knighthood in 1841.
Sir William Beechey was a British portraitist during the golden age of British painting.
George Dawe was an English portraitist who painted 329 portraits of Russian generals active during Napoleon's invasion of Russia for the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. He relocated to Saint Petersburg in 1819, where he won acclaim for his work from the artistic establishment and complimentary verses by Pushkin. He was the son of Philip Dawe, a successful mezzotint engraver who also produced political cartoons relating to the events of the Boston Tea Party. One of his brothers was Henry Edward Dawe, also a portraitist. He died on 15 October 1829 in Kentish Town, United Kingdom.
The Tribuna of the Uffizi (1772–1778) by Johan Zoffany is a painting of the north-east section of the Tribuna room in the Uffizi in Florence, Italy. The painting is part of the United Kingdom's Royal Collection.
The title of Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King or Queen of England or, later, Great Britain, was awarded to a number of artists, nearly all mainly portraitists. It was different from the role of Serjeant Painter, and similar to the earlier role of "King's Painter". Other painters, for example Nicholas Hilliard had similar roles with different titles. "Principal Painter in Ordinary", first used for Sir Anthony Van Dyck, became settled as the usual title with John Riley in 1689.
William Corden the Elder was an English portrait painter and miniaturist known for his commissions from the Royal Family in the mid nineteenth century.
Sir Herbert James Gunn RA RP was a Scottish landscape and portrait painter.
Portrait painting in Scotland includes all forms of painted portraiture in Scotland, from its beginnings in the early sixteenth century until the present day. The origins of the tradition of portrait painting in Scotland are in the Renaissance, particularly through contacts with the Netherlands. The first portrait of a named person that survives is that of Archbishop William Elphinstone, probably painted by a Scottish artist using Flemish techniques around 1505. Around the same period Scottish monarchs turned to the recording of royal likenesses in panel portraits, painted in oils on wood. The tradition of royal portrait painting in Scotland was probably disrupted by the minorities and regencies it underwent for much of the sixteenth century. It began to flourish after the Reformation, with paintings of royal figures and nobles by Netherlands artists Hans Eworth, Arnold Bronckorst and Adrian Vanson. A specific type of Scottish picture from this era was the "vendetta portrait", designed to keep alive the memory of an atrocity. The Union of Crowns in 1603 removed a major source of artistic patronage in Scotland as James VI and his court moved to London. The result has been seen as a shift "from crown to castle", as the nobility and local lairds became the major sources of patronage.
Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball, also known as The Misses Williams-Wynn, is a 173 by 150 cm oil on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1835 and currently in the York Art Gallery. Although Etty was then known almost exclusively for history paintings featuring nude figures, he was commissioned in 1833 by Welsh Conservative politician Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn to paint a portrait of two of his daughters. Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball shows Williams-Wynn's daughters, Charlotte and Mary, in lavish Italian-style costume: Charlotte, the eldest, is shown standing, helping the seated Mary decorate her hair with a ribbon and a rose. Etty put a good deal of effort into the piece and took much longer than usual to finish it.
Pietro Annigoni completed a number of portraits of Queen Elizabeth II between 1954 and 1972. In 1955, he painted her for the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and in 1969 for the National Portrait Gallery. The two portraits were united for the National Portrait Gallery's exhibition; The Queen: Art and Image, held to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012. In 1972, Annigoni completed a circular drawing of the Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to mark their silver wedding anniversary.
Conversation Piece at the Royal Lodge, Windsor is an oil-on-canvas painting by Herbert James Gunn. It is part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London. The painting depicts King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and their daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, taking tea in the Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park. It was commissioned by the NPG in 1950.
The Trial of Queen Caroline is an 1823 history painting by the British artist George Hayter. It depicts the events of 1820 in which George IV, who had recently succeeded to the throne, attempted to divorce his long-estranged wife Caroline of Brunswick. In order to secure his divorce George had a special bill moved in the House of Lords. The Lords heard evidence of the Queen's adultery, but with public opinion strongly in Caroline's favour, the measure was ultimately withdrawn by the government. Caroline remained married to George until her death the following year.
The Marriage of Queen Victoria is an 1842 painting by the British artist George Hayter. It depicts the wedding between Queen Victoria, reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, and her prince consort Albert on 10 February 1840 at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace in London.
The Christening of the Prince of Wales is a history painting by the British artist Sir George Hayter, which was first exhibited at Windsor Castle in 1845. It depicts the christening on 25 January 1842 of Albert Edward, the infant Prince of Wales and eldest son and heir of Queen Victoria and her husband Albert, the Prince Consort. Hayter, appointed Principal Painter in Ordinary in 1841, had previously painted The Coronation of Queen Victoria and The Marriage of Queen Victoria.
Caroline, Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte is an 1801 portrait by the British artist Sir Thomas Lawrence depicting Caroline, Princess of Wales and her daughter Charlotte of Wales, then second in line to the throne after her father George, Prince of Wales who was the eldest son of George III. By this stage in their marriage Caroline and her husband were estranged and effectively separated.
George IV is an 1821 portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence portraying George IV, the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. George is depicted in the robes he wore for his Coronation in July 1821. Lawrence was Britain's pre-eminent portrait painter and had previously depicted George on a number of occasions during the Regency era before he came to the throne in succession to his father George III in 1820. Lawrence had recently been elected to succeed Benjamin West as President of the Royal Academy
Portrait of Charles X is an 1825 portrait painting by the British artist Sir Thomas Lawrence depicting the reigning French monarch Charles X. Following the French Revolution that saw his eldest brother overthrown and executed, Charles has spent many years in exile including a period in Britain. His brother Louis XVIII was restored to the throne with British assistance in 1814 and then again in 1815 following the Battle of Waterloo. Charles, as his heir, led the conservative Ultra-royalist faction in French politics. When his brother died in 1824 he succeeded to the throne. The last member of the House of Bourbon to reign, he had an elaborate coronation in Reims in May 1825. The same year Charles was painted in his coronation robes by the French artist Robert Lefèvre.
