Ramsay, Allan

‘This Mighty Fabric’: Allan Ramsay, British Union, and the Body of the King

“…21 In spite of his dismissal of Hogarth's theory of a standard of beauty, Ramsay nonetheless demonstrated a respect for his contemporary's work and also a core belief that artistic appreciation was within the capabilities of average persons. 22 It is this seeming contradiction in Ramsay's workbetween the elevated visual style of the Continent he brought into his portraiture and his own written ideas of the aesthetics of the populacethat provides context for his portrait of George III. In the basic arrangement of elements and style, the portrait is an unexceptionally Baroque performance.…”

“…Ramsay clearly understood the business of royal portraiture, especially given the commercial success and popularity of John Ryland's engraved version of his earlier portrait of George as prince of Wales in 1757. 51 As he noted to Bute even as the paint was literally still drying on that earlier portrait, 'till it is put into its frame and hung upon a hook, it is nowhere safe but in my house […] to guard it from copiers and print makers'. 52 Ramsay's studio assembly line itself turned out no less than eighty-six portraits of King George and Queen Charlotte, alone.…”