John Riley emerged as leading court portraitist during the period between the death of Peter Lely in 1680 and the ascendency of Godfrey Kneller, with whom he was appointed joint Principal Painter to William III and Mary II in 1688.

Prince George of Denmark was the younger brother of Christian V of Denmark. He married Queen Anne in 1683 and was described by the diarist John Evelyn as having ‘the Danish Countenance, blound; a young man of few words, seemed somewhat heavy; but reported Valient’. Here Prince George is shown in semi-classical costume, wearing a breastplate with the ribbon of the Garter and holding a baton. This military image was appropriate to his position as Lord High Admiral and generalissimo of land and sea forces, to which he was appointed on his wife’s accession in 1702.

This popular portrait was copied on numerous occasions. The sitter’s conventional pose is relieved by the slight twist in his posture and by his elbow, which protrudes out of the picture surface in the foreground. He has an appealing air of nonchalance, which does not accord with accounts of him as a shy, physically weak man.