West’s arrival in England from Italy in 1763 occurred at a time when artists were seeking to create a distinguished national school of history painting. George III was eager to support such a goal and was also a keen supporter of the proposal to found a national academy for the teaching and display of arts: his patronage of West and the foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768 were closely intertwined. At the King’s instruction, ‘The Departure of Regulus’ (OM 1152, 405614) was shown at the first Royal Academy exhibition in 1769; he succeeded Sir Joshua Reynolds as President of the Royal Academy in 1792.

West painted around sixty pictures for George III between 1768 and 1801. From 1772 he was described in Royal Academy catalogues as ‘Historical Painter to the King’ and from 1780 he received an annual stipend from the King of £100. In the 1780s he gave drawing lessons to the Princesses and in 1791 he succeeded Richard Dalton as Surveyor of the King’s Pictures.

In 1787-9 Benjamin West executed a series of eight paintings for George III to hang in the King’s Audience Chamber at Windsor Castle; these are still in the collection (OM 1151, 406165, OM 1158-64, 404925-7 and 407521-3) along with two oil sketches for one of the series (OM 1165-6, 406461 and 402430). George III’s intention was that the room should become a ‘Garter Throne Room’; indeed the present Garter Throne Room occupies most of the original space of the room, along with the narrow Ante Throne Room. The eight subjects deal with the foundation of the Order of the Garter on 23 April 1348; the patron saint of the Order, St George; and events of the late 1340s (the time of the order’s foundation), which demonstrate the heroism, magnanimity and chivalry of the order’s founder, Edward III, his son, the Black Prince, and his wife, Queen Philippa.

Part of the arrangement of paintings in the room can be seen in Charles Wild’s watercolour (922109) and suggest that opposite the windows there was an over-mantle (OM 1151, 406165) and three huge pictures (OM 1162-4, 407521-3); while four smaller works (OM 1158-61, 404566, 404925-7) were double-stacked on the other two walls. This work is seen quite clearly on the lower level of the throne wall to the right of the throne itself. It was painted for 600 guineas in 1788 and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1792. It depicts the crossing of the Somme prior to the Battle of Crecy on 13 August 1346. English army, led by Edward III, crosses the river and drives back the French forces. To the right of Edward III, the Black Prince is amongst the knights of the British army; the Royal Standard and other banners are held aloft on the right.