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. This is a repetition of West's state portrait of the Queen (OM 1138, 405405), which would seem to be autograph as it cost 250 guineas and which for some reason reverses the original composition. It hung originally in the Queen's Bedchamber at Windsor. The Queen appears resting her right hand on a draped table beside her on which is her crown, her spaniel at her feet; she is dressed in white with a muslin cap. In the background to the right we see her fourteen children and the south front of Windsor Castle.