George IV

KATE HEARD is Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, Royal Collection Trust. She is the author of Maria Merian's Butterflies (2016) and High Spirits: The Comic Art of Thomas Rowlandson (2013). KATHRYN JONES is Senior Curator of Decorative Arts, Royal Collection Trust. She is the author of European Silver In the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen (2017) and For the Royal Table: Dining at the Palace (2008).

George IV was arguably the most magnificent of the British monarchs. Visual display played an important role in his public image, an image that he worked hard to control.

Through the magnificent interiors of his houses and palaces in London and Brighton, numerous flattering portraits, carefully choreographed state occasions and his fashion choices, George IV attempted to shape public perception of his person as heir to the throne and as king. In doing so he formed an unrivalled collection of art, much of which remains in the Royal Collection today.

This scholarly monograph, published to accompany a major Royal Collection Trust exhibition, will examine George IV the man through the works he collected.

Includes works by Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Thomas Lawrence alongside examples of Sèvres porcelain, elaborate timepieces, ornate silver-gilt tableware and other fascinating Kunstkammer treasures.