This portrait was painted in 1771 and exhibited at the Royal Academy in the same year. Zoffany’s ability to capture a likeness evidently appealed to the King’s practical nature and preference for unpretentious art. Horace Walpole’s comment, on seeing the painting at the Royal Academy, was ‘Very like, but most disagreeable and unmeaning figure’. The portrait is uncluttered and the background remains unadorned. It is one of Zoffany’s most formal images of the royal family but even here the formality of dress - such as the General Officer’s coat, the riband and star of the Garter and the Garter around the King’s left leg - is combined with a surprisingly informal pose. Zoffany suggests that the King is alert and ready for action by the way in which his left hand is placed on his thigh in the same direction as his purposeful gaze. The King’s right arm rests casually on the arm of the chair - implying that he is at ease - with the hat and sword laid aside on the table. The chair was originally set at an angle to the picture plane: the first lines of brass studs are visible above the final version, which would have exaggerated the King’s already complex stance.

The German artist Johan Zoffany arrived in London in 1760 and soon established a reputation for informal conversation pieces in which accurate and lively portraits were set in surroundings showing the sitters’ taste and circumstances. John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, commissioned portraits of his children from Zoffany c.1763-4 and probably introduced the artist to the King and Queen. The King nominated Zoffany to the new Royal Academy in 1769. He remained in favour for a further ten years, but after the unfavourable reception of The Tribuna was supplanted by other, younger artists.

Catalogue entry adapted from George III & Queen Charlotte: Patronage, Collecting and Court Taste, London, 2004