Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach
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- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach
by Jacopo Amigoni
oil on canvas, 1735
96 in. x 60 in. (2439 mm x 1524 mm)
Purchased, 1963
Primary Collection
NPG 4332
Sitterback to top
- Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1683-1737), Queen of George II. Sitter in 38 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Jacopo Amigoni (1682?-1752), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 14 portraits.
This portraitback to top
This unusual allegorical portrait was commissioned by Queen Caroline in 1735, from the Italian artist Jacopo Amigoni. She presented the picture to her doctor, Richard Mead, in 1736. The Queen has diamonds in her hair and wears a dark blue robe of state lined with ermine. Above her head, two putti hold a crown and a laurel wreath, whilst at her feet two more support a cornucopia, a symbol of plenty, out of which spill the heads of her seven surviving children, celebrating her devotion to strengthening the Hanoverian royal family. More detailed information on this portrait is available in a National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue, John Kerslake's Early Georgian Portraits (1977, out of print).
Related worksback to top
- NPG D14018: Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach (after)
- NPG D10770: Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach (after)
- NPG D10771: Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach (after)
- NPG D10772: Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach (after)
Linked publicationsback to top
- Smartify image discovery app
- Kerslake, John, Early Georgian Portraits, 1977, p. 34
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 105
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1735back to top
Current affairs
Second Parliament under George III. Robert Walpole maintains a substantial majority. Lord Bolingbroke gives up active opposition to Walpole and retires to France. Walpole moves into 10 Downing Street.Welsh Methodist revival begins.
Art and science
Celebrated dandy Richard 'Beau' Nash appoints himself Master of Ceremonies at Tunbridge Wells.William Hogarth founds the second St Martin's Lane Academy of Painting.
Lawyer and amateur meteorologist George Hadley publishes the first explanation of the trade winds
International
Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus publishes a 'system of nature', capable of classifying all living things.Swedish chemist Georg Brandt discovers a new metallic element, which he names cobalt.
A revivalist movement in America, led by Jonathan Edwards, becomes known as the Great Awakening.
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach debuts his Ascension Oratorio in Leipzig.
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