Press Release
George III and Queen Charlotte: Patronage, Collecting and Court Taste
An exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace
Opens 26 March 2004
In the year of his accession at the age of 22, George III proclaimed to Parliament, ‘I glory
in the name of Briton’. His 60-year reign (1760-1820), one of the longest in British
history, was a period of extraordinary advancement in the arts, sciences and
manufacturing. Yet George III’s record as one of the most influential patrons of his time
has been completely overshadowed by his image as the mad king and as the monarch
who lost America.
This major exhibition is the first ever to focus on both George III and his consort, Queen
Charlotte, as collectors and to explore their encouragement of the arts. It examines their
close association with leading artists and entrepreneurs during one of the most creative
periods in British history, which saw the foundation of such bodies as the Royal
Academy of Arts and the Royal Society of Arts.
The 500 objects, drawn entirely from the Royal Collection, constitute one of the largest
and finest groups of Georgian material ever assembled. They include sculpture, furniture,
paintings, drawings, books, ceramics, silver and gold, jewellery and clocks. Although the
exhibition focuses on the 50 years before the onset of George III's final illness and the
establishment of the Regency in 1811, it includes poignant items made to celebrate the
King’s first recovery from porphyria in 1789.
In 1762 George III purchased Buckingham House for his young bride Princess Charlotte
of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The decorative arts commissioned for their new home began the
King’s life-long commitment to British ‘manufactures’. Mahogany furniture by William
Vile, silver by Thomas Heming, porcelain from the Chelsea, Derby, Wedgwood and
Worcester factories, and ornamental metalwork by Matthew Boulton are among the
superb pieces shown in the exhibition.
George III had a deep and practical interest in all branches of art and science. He was
taught architecture by William Chambers (who designed the dazzling Gold State Coach
for the King) and a number of his architectural drawings are included in the exhibition.
His commissioning of some of the most sophisticated clocks, barometers and watches
ever created stemmed from a fascination with and understanding of their mechanisms.
The case for Christopher Pinchbeck’s magnificent four-dialled astronomical clock and
Matthew Boulton’s decoration for the mantel clock by Thomas Wright, both in the
exhibition, were partly designed by the King.
George III and Queen Charlotte were depicted by many of the leading British artists of
the 18th century, including Allan Ramsay and Thomas Gainsborough. They chose the
German painter Johan Zoffany to record scenes of family life with their nine sons and six
…/Cont.
daughters. Interestingly, at the time of the long-running dispute over the American
colonies, George III commissioned a series of history paintings from the American artist
Benjamin West, whose heroic subject matter reflected the virtues of honour, fortitude and
chivalry that he particularly admired.
George III’s purchase in 1762 of the celebrated collection formed by the British consul in
Venice, Joseph Smith, remains one of the most important acquisitions in the history of
the Royal Collection. It encompassed superb Italian paintings and drawings, including
works by Raphael, Zuccarelli and Annibale Carracci, and the finest group of Canalettos
in existence. The collection also contained outstanding ancient and Renaissance gems,
intaglios, medals and books.
George III was the most passionate book collector in the history of the monarchy.
Although much of the King’s extensive library formed part of the second royal gift to the
British Museum in 1823, a number of his notable acquisitions, such as the Sarum Missal
of 1497, are shown in the exhibition. Many of the books reflect George III’s greatest
interests, such as agriculture and architecture, and are annotated in his hand. As the writer
Thomas de Quincy noted, ‘his care extended even to the dressing of the books in
appropriate bindings, and…to their health’. The displays include a selection of the King’s
bookbinding tools, still in use today.
As well as exploring George III as a monarch and man of letters, the exhibition looks at
the King as a family man. His domestic life with the Queen and their children is
examined through the gifts they exchanged, specially commissioned tableware for tea and
coffee drinking, writing sets and gaming pieces. Music was central to the lives of the
royal couple, who played a variety of instruments and had a private band. The case of a
magnificent claviorgan, a harpsichord and the king’s flute are shown in the exhibition.
George III’s enthusiastic pursuit of ‘learning’ was emblematic of the age of enquiry in
which he lived. His interest in the great voyages of discovery to new parts of the world is
represented in the exhibition by objects presented to him by, among others, Captain
James Cook, whose expeditions the King sponsored.
While George III and Queen Charlotte shared interests in music, books and the theatre,
the Queen pursued her love of botany independently, advised by the leading plantsmen of
the day. Her substantial botanical library included the specially bound dedication copy of
Lord Bute’s Botanical tables, shown in the exhibition within its own decorated cabinet.
The Queen also gathered around her and supported a number of women artists, such as
Mary Delany and Mary Knowles, and encouraged her own daughters’ artistic talents.
George III and Queen Charlotte: Patronage, Collecting and Court Taste
The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace
26 March 2004 – 9 January 2005
Further information is available from Public Relations and Marketing, the Royal
Collection, telephone: 020-7839 1377, e-mail: press@royalcollection.org.uk Images
are available from the Royal Collection’s folder in the Arts section on PA’s Picselect
at www.papicselect.com or through the PA bulletin board.
Note to Editors
George III was born on 4 June 1738, the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and
Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. He became heir to the throne on the death of his father
in 1751, succeeding his grandfather, George II, in 1760. He was the first Hanovarian
monarch to be born in England and to use English as his first language.
Ends.