A watercolour depicting the King's Old State Bedchamber, Windsor Castle, with red cloth walls, large portraits hanging and Verrio's ceiling depicting Charles II in the robes of the Garter with the Four Continents paying homage. Prepared for one of the plates in William Henry Pyne's 'History of the Royal Residences' (1816-1819). Engraved by T. Sutherland, the print published 4.5.1816.

Pyne's 'History of the Royal Residences' was a three-volume publication which encompassed a number of royal residences, including Windsor Castle (vol. 1) and Buckingham House (vol. 2), presenting 100 hand-coloured engravings of exteriors and interiors accompanied by descriptive texts. The 100 watercolours which were engraved for the publication survive in the Royal Library; these watercolours are exactly the size of the image on the printed plates, and may perhaps have been intended as colour guides for the artists responsible for hand-painting the monochrome prints.

The paintings in this watercolour can be identified from Pyne’s text and contemporaneous inventories. Reading clockwise from the left: portraits of Charles V (405795) over Prince Rupert (Lely, 405883) are balanced by those of Emmanuel Philibert (403945) over Parmigianino’s Young Man (406025); these four flank Dupont’s full-length of George III (405679); two overdoors in matching frames are Parmigianino’s Cupid (402632, left) and Correggio’s St John the Baptist (400120, right). The right wall has (near the windows) portraits of Anne of Denmark (404437) over Princess Mary (Lely, 404918), balanced by (near us) those of Elizabeth I (404444) and Catherine of Brazanza (Lely, 401214); all four framing Dance’s full-length of the Duke of York (404333).