拍品专文
The King, mounted on a white horse, Adonis, is seen wearing a General's uniform with the star of the Garter, and pointing towards a mock attack between the 3rd, or Prince of Wales's Own, Dragoon Guards and the 10th, or Prince of Wales's Own, Light Dragoons. Nearby, brandishing his sabre, is the Prince of Wales in the uniform of Colonel of the 10th Light Dragoons; Frederick, Duke of York, as Commander in Chief, wearing the star of the Garter on the uniform of a Field-Marshal; Lieutenant-General Sir David Dundas (1735-1820), Quartermaster-General; and Major-General Philip Goldsworthy (c. 1738-1801). In the foreground stands General Sir William Fawcett, (1728-1804), Colonel of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, wearing the ribbon of the Bath.
The life size original version of the present lot was in the Collection of H.M. The Queen until it perished in the 1993 fire at Windsor Castle. Beechey planned the original composition in 1794, and on showing a sketch he had made to the King was immediately commissioned to execute a full scale picture, which was then exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1798. It was considered Beechey's masterpiece and earned him his knighthood. That painting was engraved by James Ward in 1798. A signed drawing for the painting is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and a sketchbook filled with studies was in the possession of the artist's great-grandson Ernest Beechey.
According to the Parke-Bernet 1940 catalogue entry, the present lot is said to have been commissioned by the King of Prussia who had admired the original, and was painted circa 1802. In that sale, it was accompanied by a certificate from Sir Charles Holmes, dated London Feb. 3, 1931, stating that "...This reduced version of the now much darkened picture at Kensington Palace is by Beechey himself. Beechey's account books prove that the making of copies of his own works was part of his regular practice, and in this case the excellence of the portraits points directly to him. That of the Duke of York is notable for being a much better likeness than that in the Royal picture and done from a different study. Now some three years after the Royal picture was painted, the Duke of York sat to Beechey (Exhibited R.A., 1801, no. 79), and it was then no doubt that the artist made the new and more intimate study of the Duke's head utilized for the reduced version--of which it thus indicates both the date and the authenticity."
Roberts (Sir William Beechey, 1907, p. 59) notes that the King had several copies made, one of which he gave to Lord Sidmouth. A large version (46 5/16 x 56 3/16in.) was in the collection of the Earls of Chichester and is now in the Francine and Sterling Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Roberts (op. cit., p. 61) notes that a small scale replica, believed to be autograph, belonged to a Mr. Herbert Jackson and may be identifiable with a "small copy" which the artist sold to Mr. T. Bernard in 1811
The life size original version of the present lot was in the Collection of H.M. The Queen until it perished in the 1993 fire at Windsor Castle. Beechey planned the original composition in 1794, and on showing a sketch he had made to the King was immediately commissioned to execute a full scale picture, which was then exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1798. It was considered Beechey's masterpiece and earned him his knighthood. That painting was engraved by James Ward in 1798. A signed drawing for the painting is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and a sketchbook filled with studies was in the possession of the artist's great-grandson Ernest Beechey.
According to the Parke-Bernet 1940 catalogue entry, the present lot is said to have been commissioned by the King of Prussia who had admired the original, and was painted circa 1802. In that sale, it was accompanied by a certificate from Sir Charles Holmes, dated London Feb. 3, 1931, stating that "...This reduced version of the now much darkened picture at Kensington Palace is by Beechey himself. Beechey's account books prove that the making of copies of his own works was part of his regular practice, and in this case the excellence of the portraits points directly to him. That of the Duke of York is notable for being a much better likeness than that in the Royal picture and done from a different study. Now some three years after the Royal picture was painted, the Duke of York sat to Beechey (Exhibited R.A., 1801, no. 79), and it was then no doubt that the artist made the new and more intimate study of the Duke's head utilized for the reduced version--of which it thus indicates both the date and the authenticity."
Roberts (Sir William Beechey, 1907, p. 59) notes that the King had several copies made, one of which he gave to Lord Sidmouth. A large version (46 5/16 x 56 3/16in.) was in the collection of the Earls of Chichester and is now in the Francine and Sterling Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Roberts (op. cit., p. 61) notes that a small scale replica, believed to be autograph, belonged to a Mr. Herbert Jackson and may be identifiable with a "small copy" which the artist sold to Mr. T. Bernard in 1811