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Creator:
William Hogarth, 1697–1764
Title:
William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland
Former Title(s):
H.R.H. William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland [1980, D'Oench, The Conversation Piece: Arthur Devis & his contemporaries]
Date:
1732
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
18 7/8 x 13 7/8 inches (47.9 x 35.2 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Dated, lower left: "1732"

Label on the back: “This interesting picture of William Duke of Cumberland Aged 12 […] the property of [Mrs?] Fitzwilliam of| […] & sold in 1855 at Christie’s; it is an under[…]|[…] of Hogarth[…] [….] as|Lord Holland’s Picture of the […] of Mexico & in|which the […] has introduced the Duke’s Portrait|the Portico in the background is exactly of the same|form as that in the picture of the Pool of Bethesda|[…] St Bartholomew’s Hospital”

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.59
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1977.14.59FR
Subject Terms:
arches | boy | costume | duke | flags | flags | portrait | prince | soldier
Associated People:
William Augustus, Prince, duke of Cumberland (1721–1765), army office
Access:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:408
Export:
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Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765), was the second surviving son of the future King George II and Queen Caroline of Ansbach. He was also the younger brother of Frederick, Prince of Wales, whose later portrait by Charles Phillips hangs to the right. Hogarth's lively portrait was painted when, at the age of ten or eleven, the prince was given conspicuous honors: his own apartments in the royal palaces, a household staff, and an annual income of £6,000. In adult life William Augustus became a senior army officer, permanently estranged from his elder brother. He was responsible for the brutal massacre of Scottish rebels at Culloden in 1746, following the Highland uprising led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, an action that earned the twenty-five-year-old Duke of Cumberland the permanent label "Butcher of Culloden."

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005
Commissioned by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765), from William Hogarth (1697-1764), the artist, in 1732; acquired by “Mrs Fitzwilliam,” possibly Fanny Elizabeth Fitzwilliam (née Copeland) (1801-1854) of Paddington and Putney, by 1855 [1]; acquired by William John Broderip (1789-1859) of London, England, by 1856 [2]; purchased by “Graves” at Christie, Manson & Woods, London, England, June 11, 1859 (lot 111), in “The beautiful collection of modern pictures of the late W.J. Broderip, Esq.” [a]; acquired by Sir Charles Tennant (1823-1906), by 1888 [3]; by descent to his grandson, Sir Charles Tennant, second Baron Glenconner (1899-1983); by descent to his son, Colin Christopher Paget Tennant, third Baron Glenconner (1926-2010); purchased by John Baskett Ltd. at Sotheby’s, London, England, July 6, 1977 (lot 21) for Paul Mellon (1907-1999) [b]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT.

Notes:
[1] Label on Center Stretcher verso, written in brown ink in nineteenth century hand (after 1855) indicates the picture was in the possession of a Mrs. Fitzwilliam by 1855: “This interesting picture of William Duke of Cumberland Aged 12 […] the property of [Mrs?] Fitzwilliam of| […] & sold in 1855 at Christie’s; it is an under[…]|[…] of Hogarth[…] [….] as|Lord Holland’s Picture of the […] of Mexico & in|which the […] has introduced the Duke’s Portrait|the Portico in the background is exactly of the same|form as that in the picture of the Pool of Bethesda|[…] St Bartholomew’s Hospital.”
[2] When exhibited at the British Institution (no. 112).
[3] When exhibited at Grosvenor Gallery (no. 143).

Citations:
[a] Christie, Manson & Woods. June 11, 1859. The beautiful collection of modern pictures of the late W.J. Broderip, Esq. https://doi.org/10.1163/2210-7886_ASC-24960
[b] Sotheby’s. July 6, 1977. Important seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century British paintings. https://worldcat.org/en/title/171384119

Crown Pictorial - Art and the British Monarchy (Yale Center for British Art, 1990-12-05 - 1991-02-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

The Conversation Piece - Arthur Devis & His Contemporaries (Yale Center for British Art, 1980-10-01 - 1980-11-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Acquisitions : The First Decade 1977-1986 : Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1986, p. 15, no. 25, N590.2 .A7 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Ronald Brymer Beckett, William Hogarth 1697-1764 : catalogue of an exhibition arranged by the Arts Council of Great Britain upon the occasion of the Festival of Britain 1951 : held at the Tate Gallery, London, 29th June-29th July, , Tate Gallery, London, 1951, p. 25, pl. 28, NJ18 H67 B44 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Linda Colley, Crown Pictorial : Art and the British Monarchy : Exhibition Labels, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1990, p. 22, no. 51, N8219 K5 C761 1990 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Linda Colley, Crown Pictorial : Art and the British Monarchy, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1990, pp. 30,31, no. 51, no. 51, N8219 K5 C76 1990 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 120-121, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Ellen G. D'Oench, The Conversation Piece: Arthur Devis & his contemporaries, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1980, pp. 7,10, 70, cat. 51, fig. 5, NJ18 D5151 D64 OVERSIZE [ORBIS]

Elizabeth Einberg, William Hogarth : A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven, London, 2016, pp. 102-103, cat. 60, NJ18 H67 +E36 2016 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Algernon Graves, Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912, 5 v., London, 1913 - 1915, vol. 2, p. 522, no. 112, N5051 G73 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

John F. Kerslake, Early Georgian portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1977, vol. 1, p. 67, N1090 A591 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Duncan Robinson, Acquisitions : The First Decade 1977 - 1986, , Burlington Magazine, vol. 128, October 1986, p. 15, no. 25, N1 .B87 128:3 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Sotheby's sale catalogue : Important seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century British paintings : 6 July 1977, Sotheby's, London, July 6, 1977, pp. 18-19, lot 21, Auction Catalogues (YCBA)

Roy C. Strong, The British portrait, 1660-1960, Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1991, pp. 173-74, pl. 161, ND1314 B743 1991 (YCBA) [YCBA]

The British Council, British painting in the eighteenth century : an exhibition under the gracious patronage of Her Majesty the Queen. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Toronto, the Toledo Museum of Art, 1957-1958 ..., , [London, 1957, pp. 42, 80, no. 30, ND466 A5 (YCBA) [YCBA]

The Grosvenor Gallery Winter Exhibition 1888 : A century of British art from 1737 to 1837, , Accessed December 1, 2022, pp. 76-77, no. 143, https://archive.org/details/ACenturyofBritishArt17371837GrosvenorGalleryWinterExhibition1888 [Website]


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