Lawrence was the most fashionable and also the greatest portraitist of his generation. He was made Principal Painter to George III in 1792 after Reynolds’s death, and received occasional commissions; however it was only after 1814 that George IV began to employ him in earnest. This portrait was commissioned by George III as a present for Henry Addington, who was the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1789-1801 and considered the ‘most honest and upright’ ever chosen; the King decided to dress as he would appear at the State Opening of Parliament. The portrait was painted in 1809, though the head is based on Lawrence’s earlier portrait of George III of 1792 (Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry, see also RCIN 404932). The King holds a paper in his right and, in his left, a seal or an implement for scattering sand used as ink-blotter. The combination of state robes and ordinary day dress is unusual and perhaps belongs with the portrait’s combination of an informal manner with an official function.