Prince Augustus Frederick (1773–1843)

Phillips's portrait of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex from 1838 depicts the sixth son of George III and one of the most culturally engaged of the royal princes—a patron of the arts and sciences, a Freemason, and a collector of books and manuscripts of unusual bibliographic ambition. The Duke of Sussex's intellectual interests made him a figure of genuine cultural significance within the royal family, and his portrait by Phillips served both the institutional documentation of a senior royal and the personal commemoration of a patron who had supported many of the institutions where Phillips's other portraits were displayed. The 1838 date places this in the last years of the Duke's life—he died in 1843—making it one of his final formal portraits.

The royal portrait follows appropriate conventions of formality and dignity, with the duke's presidential role at the Royal Society suggested through setting or accessories. Phillips's handling is suitably polished for a royal subject, with careful attention to the uniform and decorations that establish rank. The face is rendered with individual characterization within the formal frame.