This famous image of George IV (1762-1830) is based upon Sir Thomas Lawrence's full-length painted portrait executed in 1821, the year of the king’s coronation, which established the latter’s 'official' likeness throughout his ten-year reign. Depicted in the guise of an ancient field-marshal, the earliest recorded existing bust is at Chatsworth, which was commissioned by the 6th Duke of Devonshire in 1822. Seventeen other versions are known to have been produced, three of which are now in the Royal Collection, dated 1826, 1828 and 1837 (inv. nos. RCIN 2136, RCIN 31617 and RCIN 2010 respectively). The present bust differs from other examples of Chantrey’s portrait of the king in its greater sense of intimacy, with a shorter truncation and largely bare chest. It is possible that it is one of two busts delivered to Carlton House and recorded as being lost, one of which was destined for the king’s mistress, Lady Conyngham (Yarrington, op. cit., p. 166).

Born into a family of tenant farmers, Sir Francis Chantrey’s first forays as an artist were in the realm of painting which he soon abandoned in favour of sculpture and, although self-taught, he went on to become the foremost portrait sculptor of his age. He established his reputation during the Napoleonic Wars, initially as a sculptor of great monuments but from the 1820s onwards, when the demand for monumental tomb and secular sculpture decreased, he turned his attention towards the elevation of the status of the portrait bust. Chantrey’s works are defined by their Neo-classical simplicity combined with a highly skilled, usually unidealised, study of character that won him commissions from some of the most important figures of the day. Knighted in 1835, Chantrey is responsible for the definitive portraits of not only George IV but also William IV and the young Queen Victoria.