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George III

1783

Benjamin West

(American, 1738–1820)

America, 18th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 152 x 127 x 9.5 cm (59 13/16 x 50 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 126.5 x 101 cm (49 13/16 x 39 3/4 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence S. Robbins 1952.17

Location

204 Colonial American

Did you know?

Over the king's shoulder is a cape trimmed with ermine, a fur associated with royalty.

Description

King George III commissioned more than 80 paintings from West, including this portrait that celebrates his military leadership by presenting him in a suit of armor. Such an image likely was intended to bolster George III's reputation, which had been tarnished the previous year when he was forced to formally recognize American independence.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed lower right: "B. West. 17[?]3"

Provenance

1910

Dr. T. Fisher, Sidcup, Kent, England

(S.T. Smith & Son, London, England)

1914

(Vose Gallery, Boston, MA)

1919

Otto Miller, Cleveland, OH

Elsa Woolworth Miller, Cleveland, OH

October 14, 1944

(Sale: Kende Galleries at Gimbel Brothers, New York, October 14, 1944)

-1952

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence S. Robbins, Shaker Heights, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1952-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

"A Check List: American Paintings and Watercolors of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Early Twentieth Centuries in the Cleveland Museum of Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no.1 (January 1973). Reproduced: p.35, no.186 www-jstor-org.ingallslibrary.idm.oclc.org

"Kende Sales." The Art Digest (October 1, 1944). Mentioned and reproduced: p.20 (misidentified as "Duke of York")

Freed, Kenneth J. "How George III Helped the U.S." The Bridgeport Connecticut Post (August 17, 1975). Reproduced (unpaginated)

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de. Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers 1776-1790. Edited by Stanley J. Idzerda. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1977. Reproduced: p.336

Sotheby's, London. British Paintings. July 10 and July 17, 1985. Mentioned under Lot 54

Erffa, Helmut von, and Allen Staley. The Paintings of Benjamin West. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986. Mentioned and reproduced: p.466

Robertson, Bruce. "Frederic A. Whiting: Founding the Museum with Art and Craft." In Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. Edited by Evan H. Turner. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Mentioned and reproduced: p.46

Bailyn, Bernard. The Great Republic: A History of the American People. Vol 1. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1992. Reproduced: p.224

Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: p.258

Hedberg, Gregory. Yanks Paint Brits: From Benjamin West to Nelson Shanks, from King George III to the Princess of Wales. Exh. Cat. New York, N.Y.: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1996. Mentioned and reproduced: p.8

Denver Art Museum. 600 Years of British Painting: The Berger Collection. Exh. Cat. Denver, CO: Denver Art Museum, 1998. Mentioned: p.140

Griffin, Patrick. America's Revolution. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2013. Reproduced: p.44

Ilchman, Frederick, Thomas S. Michie, C. D. Dickerson, and Esther Bell. Casanova: The Seduction of Europe. Boston, MA: MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2017. Reproduced: P. 195, fig. 99

Gengler, Matthew. "You Ask, We Answer." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 59, no.5 (September/October 2019), 20. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 20. archive.org

Exhibition history

London, The Royal Academy of Arts, (1783 (73?)). see Algernon Graves, The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from its Foundation in 1769 to 1904; see von Erffa and Staley's entry on painting for citation; if 1783, no. 73, p. 214.

The Inaugural Exhibition, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (6 June - 20 September 1916). listed p. 44, cat. no. 163, mistitled Portrait of the Duke of York.

Heritage Kingston, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario (3 June - 28 October 1973). cat. no. 26, pp. 34-35, illus. p. 34.

"The Dye is Now Cast" The Road to American Independence, 1774-1776, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. (19 April - 16 November 1975). cat. no. 92, illus. p. 146.

The World Turned Upside Down, Yorktown Victory Center, Yorktown, VA (9 May - 31 December 1981).

British New York 1664-1783, Museum of the City of New York, New York (15 April - 27 November 1983). illus. inside pamphlet in color.

Heritage Kingston. Agnes Etherington Art Center/ Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (organizer) (June 3-October 27, 1973).

The Dye is Now Cast, 1774 - 1776. National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, Washington, DC (organizer) (April 19-November 16, 1975).

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=George III|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.17|author=Benjamin West|year=1783|access-date=22 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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George III

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Benjamin West

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