Object Image

King George IV

King George IV (1762-1830), Regent 1811-19; Reigned 1820-30.

The Prince Regent first sat to Thomas Lawrence in 1814 when Charles William Vane-Stewart commissioned this portrait. Until then the Prince had favoured other artists, as Lawrence was associated with Queen Caroline. The artist turned the 300-pound, 53-year-old Prince into an immaculate, wind-swept hero in the field marshal's uniform he so loved. William Hazlitt observed that 'Lawrence has with the magic of his pencil recreated the Prince Regent as a well-fleshed Adonis of thirty-three.'

c. 1815

Oil on canvas

2413.0 x 1549.0 mm

NPG 2503

Image and text © National Portrait Gallery, 2022