Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 14. (Budapest, 1994)

ÁCS Piroska: Aranyszelence IV. György angol király udvarából

NOTES 1. This diplomatic act is well documented in Fiance. Between 1668 and 1786 the lists of offical presents ..Registres des Présents du Roi", were kept in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris. According to these, between 1668 and 1703, Louis XIV donated fourteen boxes; between 1719 and 1768, Louis XV gave dosen, while between 1778 and 1785, Louis XVI gave as presents a mere nine boxes. 2. Length 9.2 cm; width 7 cm; height 3.7 cm; Inv. No. E 65.85. 1-2. 3. The six hallmarks are the following: 1 /that of the master; 2-3/ marks of standard from 1828, for 22- carat gold; 4/ date, letter for the year: London 1828-1829; 5/ duty mark: 1828-1830; 6/ mark of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. 4. „His Majesty. /Georg IV./ After a picture pa-/ inted by Sir Thomas Lawrence P.R.A for/ Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, May 1828 /London June 1829./ Painted by Henry Bone R.A. Enamel-painter to His / Majesty&to the Late/ Duke of York... (illegible) 5. Eldest child of George III and Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. From February 5, 1811- in the place of his ailing father - Regent Prince and, after his death, form January 29, 1820 King of England. 6. Wallace Collection, London. 270.5 by 179 cm, Inv No. P 559 7. This order of a dynastic kind was given to George IV with the special permission of the Pope, in July 1815, as ruler of one of the member states of the Seventh Coalition against Napoleon, thus and therefore ally of Austria. He was the only exception, as in the history of the Order of the Golden Fleece the Austrian (Habsburg) branch (in contrast to the Spanish (Bourbon) one) donated this decoration only to noblemen of strictly Catholic descent. It is interesting from a Hungarian point of view that (the Catholic) Ferenc Rákóczi II at the initiative of Louis XIV - was given the Order of the Fleece in 1708 by the King of Spain. (See MakaiHéri: Kitüntetések (Decorations), Budapest, 1990. p. 20.). 8. The Order of the Garter, an order of monarchic knighthood was founded by King Edward III in 1348. The Grand Master of the order is the King of England and his heirs. The number of its members - apart from the sovereign - cannot exceed twenty-five. 9. The table and its pendant, made using the Boulle technique and serving as the model, was purdhased by the prince regent from Thomas Parker on April 5, 1814, for 315. The ornamented premier and contre-partie marquetry of these ebony-clad oakwood tables was based on the combination of copper and tortoise-shell. (At the beginning of the nineteenth century Parker's company specialized in this technique. They made copies of French late seventeenth-century pieces, and also used this kind of decoration after a French model on Regency-style pieces of furniture. 10. In 1827 the furniture was moved from Carlton House to the Crimson Parlour of Windsor Castle. (For more details see: Carlton House: The Past Glory of George IV's Palace. Exhibition Catalogue, London. 1991, pp. 108-9. No. 62.). 1 1. The letter was dated June 1, 1882 (mentioned by D.E. Williams in Life and Correspondence of Sir Thomes Lawrence, 1831, Vol. II, p. 319). The sovereign reached Scotland on August 22nd. Following his coronation - after his 1821 visits to Ireland and Hannover - this journey was the last one in his progress. 12. The 289.6 by 200.7 cm easel painting (oil on canvas) was placed in the state-room of St. James Palace. It was George III. who in 1792 appointed Sir Thomas Lawrence court painter, following Sir Joshua Reynolds. He obtained no direct commission from the prince regent until 1814; it was then that he began to paint portraits of the heads of state and their military leaders who defeated Napoleon. This very year he also made the first portrait of the regent for Lord Charles Stewart (later 3 rd Marquis of Londonderry). In 1818 he painted the sovereign's portrait in the gala dress of the Order of the Garter (Dublin, Irish National Gallery) - this painting was to become the model for all official portraits of George IV as both prince regent and king. In 1820, following Benjamin West, Lawrence became Chairman of the Royal Academy of Art. His energetic brush work, velvety colours, vivid characters and often dramatic poses rendered him an outstanding representative of English Romantic portrait painting. No one could suipass him in painting the restless character and flamboyancy. 13. The data is from Stephen Lee: The Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford. 1921-22, Vol. VII, p. 1081. 14. He began his career in Plymouth and Bristol as a porcelain painter. In 1778 he got to London where he sustained his large family by painting watercolour miniatures and the enamel decoration of clocks. He gradually earned fame as a designer and enamel painter. He made his first enamel miniature in 1781, and from then on he specialized in this genre. In 1809 George III appointed him court painter, a title he held under the reign of both George IV and William IV. His small copies were made under the influence of great artists such as Barocci, Calude Lorraine, Van Dyck, Rubens, Titian, Velazquez, and that of his outstanding contemporaries, portrait painters as for example Gainsborough, Hoppner, Opie, Reynolds). From 1811 he was a member of the Royal Academy of Art. 15. Az európai iparművészet remekei (Masterpieces of European Applied Art), Catalogue, Budapest, 1972, No. 319. 16. 91.5 by 76.2 cm. London, Clarence House. 17. C. Turner, 1824 (half-portrait); Saunders and Ottley, 1828 (half-portrait); W. Finden, 1829; E. Sriven, 1831 (half-portrait); P. Thomas, 1841