Benjamin SMITH after Sir William Beechey

His Most Gracious Majesty King George the Third

19 x 27 inches

This full-length portrait of the king was done in 1804 after he had been on the throne for over forty years. The elderly king wears his military uniform and carries a long walking cane. On the right of the picture is a large urn on a pedestal and in the background is his charger and the troops drawn up in review. Beechey has chosen his settings with great care to emphasise the masculinity of his subject. These prints would have been widely disseminated across the kingdom to promote and reinforce the image of the monarchy. Benjamin Smith was a stipple engraver of portraits and historical subjects after his contemporaries who worked in London during the reign of George III and studied under the famous Italian artist Francesco Bartolozzi. Likewise, Thomas Ryder lived and worked in London and practised both line and stipple engraving