George III (1738-1820)

Lawrence painted George III around 1809, late in the king's reign when he was increasingly afflicted by the mental illness (now believed to be porphyria) that would lead to the Regency of 1811. George III had reigned since 1760 — the longest reign of any British king at that point — and had presided over the loss of the American colonies, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the early Napoleonic conflict. Lawrence's portrait captures the aged king with a dignity that acknowledges both his long service and his declining faculties. Now in the Royal Collection, the portrait is among the last painted of a monarch who personified an entire era of British history.

Lawrence portrays the aged king with dignified sympathy, capturing the effects of time and illness while maintaining royal bearing. The subdued palette and careful composition reflect the sombre mood appropriate to the king's declining years.