One of a set of five etchings by the Princess after drawings by Benjamin West. Here a young girl is shown tasting a grape.

George III’s commission in 1769 of the Departure of Regulus from Rome (Royal Collection) marked the beginning of a long period of royal patronage for Benjamin West. During his tenure as Historical Painter to the King, West had studios both in Buckingham House and in Windsor Castle, and from c.1780 to 1809 he rented a house in Park Street, Windsor. He painted many portraits of the royal family, and for a time also served as a drawing master to the Princesses.

The Princess Royal made a group of five lively etchings, dated 1784, which allegorise the senses. These etchings were all copies of designs by West, whose drawing of Taste, signed and dated 1784, has recently surfaced, while his drawings for Sound and Smell were on the art market in 1968 and 1975 respectively. Among the works by the Princess Royal in the Collection is a large watercolour drawing of an angel pasted into an album of prints and drawings included here as no. 64; this also reveals the influence of West and may date from around two years later than these etchings.

The Princesses were apparently taught to etch by Biagio Rebecca (1735-1808) and Peltro William Tomkins (1760-1840). The resulting prints were presumably distributed as gifts to family and friends, in the same way as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert distributed their drawings and etchings in the 1830s and 1840s.

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