Royal Subject: Portraits of Queen Charlotte

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In the contextual analysis below, you will read more about who Queen Charlotte was and the collection of portraits that Scottish portraitist, Allan Ramsay, painted of her. This will be followed by a formal analysis, providing a brief overview of one example of his portraits of her, titled Queen Charlotte, from 1762, which is part of the Royal Collection Trust in the United Kingdom. The King enjoyed country pursuits and riding and preferred to keep his family's residence as much as possible in the then rural towns of Kew and Richmond. He favoured an informal and relaxed domestic life, to the dismay of some courtiers more accustomed to displays of grandeur and strict protocol. Lady Mary Coke was indignant on hearing in July 1769 that the king, the queen, her visiting brother Prince Ernest and Lady Effingham had gone for a walk through Richmond town by themselves without any servants. "I am not satisfied in my mind about the propriety of a Queen walking in town unattended." [17] Space in Queen Charlotte (1762) by Allan Ramsay; Allan Ramsay, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The rest of Charlotte's property was sold at auction from May to August 1819. Her clothes, furniture, and even her snuff were sold by Christie's. [56] It is highly unlikely that her husband ever knew of her death. He died blind, deaf, lame and insane 14 months later. [57] Legacy [ edit ] Statue in Queen Square, London Drawing by Henry Edridge, whole-length seated. Royal Collection, where there is also a duplicate dated 1804 (A. P. Oppé, English Drawings, Stuart and Georgian periods, in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, 1950, nos.198-99, pl.10). A half-length miniature copy attributed to John Hopkins in the Royal Collection (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, no.833); another by Paul Fischer, dated 1823, sold Sotheby’s, 10 June 1993, lot 173, from Stanton Harcourt.As for Rogers’ quote from Horace Walpole, a contemporary of Charlotte, we see a description of the new Queen with a hypercritical focus on how well conforms to the English beauty standards of the day. The complete quote is: Unfortunately, there are numerous instances in this work that inaccurately quote primary sources, describe the content of primary sources in a way that is not supported by their text, or make novel assertions that are not sourced. Though they married for political gain rather than love, Charlotte and George held each other in high esteem. In a 1778 letter to her husband, the queen wrote:

She was famously ugly," says Desmond Shawe-Taylor, surveyor of the Queen's pictures. "One courtier once said of Charlotte late in life: 'Her Majesty's ugliness has quite faded.' There was quite a miaow factor at court." He was a court painter to King George III and was a prolific portrait painter, creating numerous portraits of royal figures. Near the end of his life, a dislocation of his right arm left him unable to continue painting. He also pursued other disciplines like literary and scholarly studies.Miniature by Ozias Humphry half-length, looking curiously unregal. Royal Collection (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, no.231). Probably that exhibited Society of Arts, London, 1767 (747 as Queen Charlotte 'painted from the life'). A miniature version by Edward Shiercliffe sold Christie’s, 11 May 1994, lot 29. She is not tall nor a beauty; pale, and very thin; but looks sensible, and is genteel. Her hair is darkish and fine; her forehead low, her nose very well, except the nostrils spreading too wide; her mouth has the same fault, but her teeth are good. She talks a great deal, and French tolerably;… Anti-saccharrites, - or - John Bull and his family leaving off the use of sugar’ by James Gillray (1792)