The Marriage of George III, 1761 (oil on canvas)

When George III was asked by Lord Eglinton to sit for the most fashionable portrait painter of the day, Joshua Reynolds, he replied: ‘Mr Ramsay is my painter, my Lord.’ Reynolds tried to gain royal notice with two speculative ventures – a portrait of George III as Prince of Wales (OM 1011, 401034) and this oil sketch – both of which remained on his hands. Reynolds was knighted by George III, made first president of the Royal Academy and Principal Painter to the King upon Ramsay’s death in 1784, but never asked to paint anything. That the Royal Collection has a fine group of Reynolds is entirely thanks to George IV, who commissioned portraits at the end of the artist’s life and acquired many examples of his earlier work. This is a rare example of a work acquired after George IV's death, probably during the reign of Queen Victoria. George III married Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz on 8 September 1761 in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace. Reynolds apparently made a sketch of the occasion from the gallery and attempted to turn this into a major commission. He may have had three possibilities in mind. This may be a ‘raw’ sketch taken from the life (or a painted version of an outline drawing) which he intended to re-design into a ‘proper composition’. The second possibility is that this is a proper composition, which Reynolds intended to work up into a finishing painting of approximately the same dimensions, making a conversation piece in the manner of Hogarth or Mercier. The final possibility is that he intended to work on his usual scale – with life-sized figures – in which case he was bidding to create a canvas of over four by six meters, perhaps inspired by Knapton’s huge group of the family of Princess Augusta (OM 573, 405741). The King’s failure to proceed with the commission has left the matter unresolved. George III’s skepticism is understandable: did nobody teach Reynolds that foreground figures should appear larger than those in the distance? The sketch shows the interior of the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace with, on the left, Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury blessing the royal couple at the altar. Thomas Hayter, Bishop of London, stands on the right. Behind the bride are ladies and bridesmaids and behind the King, members of the royal family. A herald is on the left foreground.