When George III was asked by Lord Eglinton to sit for the most fashionable portrait painter of the day, Joshua Reynolds, he replied: ‘Mr Ramsay is my painter, my Lord.’ Reynolds tried to gain royal notice with two speculative ventures – a portrait of George III as Prince of Wales (OM 1011, 401034) and an oil sketch for a depiction of his marriage to Queen Charlotte (OM 1012, 404353) – both of which remained on his hands. Reynolds was knighted by George III, made first president of the Royal Academy and Principal Painter to the King upon Ramsay’s death in 1784, but never asked to paint anything. That the Royal Collection has a fine group of Reynolds is entirely thanks to George IV, who commissioned portraits like this one at the end of the artist’s life and acquired many examples of his earlier work.

The Duke first sat to Reynolds in 1787 and the portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1788. The second, and favourite, son of George III is shown as a young man in full Garter robes. The plumed hat of the Order is on a table behind him with a dramatic curtain and classical architecture beyond. Reynolds often relied on accomplished assistants to complete his works. In this instance, probably only the head is by Reynolds himself.