FDA-P.51-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-P.51-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
The Hon George King, 3rd Earl of Kingston
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
Description
Half-length portrait of a young man, slightly turned to the right, in a brown coat and academic gown; with lace ruffles, long brown hair
Comments
Born 1771, eldest son of Robert, Lord Kingsborough, afterwards second Earl of Kingston. Entered Eton, 1781; left 1789. Exeter College, Oxford 1787. Succeeded his father as third Earl of Kingston, 1799. Died 1839. The Kings were the richest landowners in Ireland but attained some notoriety in 1798 when Robert King shot his wife's nephew (for the seduction of King's daughter). King was tried before his peers. As no accuser came forward, he was acquitted. George King represented County Roscommon in Parliament from 1797 until his father's death in 1799, when he took his seat in the Lords. In 1821 he was created, as one of the coronation peerages of George IV, Baron Kingston of Michelston. His children had less successful careers. His heir, Edward, died of typhus in the debtor's prison in Dublin and his second son made several appearances before the magistrates charged with sodomy and drunkenness, and was eventually declared of unsound mind.
The sitter sat to Romney in 1788: March 26, April 2, 8, May 13, 22
The sitter sat to Romney in 1788: March 26, April 2, 8, May 13, 22
Description
Content (person)
Dimensions
height (sight size): 745mm
width (sight size): 616mm
width (sight size): 616mm
Inscription
ID label on frame
Materials & techniques note
Oil on canvas
Physical description
Historic carved gilt wood frame (Romney frame?)
Production
Person
Romney, George, 1734 - 1802 (Artist)
Date
1788
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Commissioned by the sitter or his family; by whom presented to the Head Master at Eton College in 1788
Exhibited: Tate, catalogue no.5; Dulwich, catalogue no.16
Exhibited: Tate, catalogue no.5; Dulwich, catalogue no.16
References
• Cust, L., Eton College Portraits, 1910 (p. 22 (no. 38), Plate XVI)
• Dulwich Picture Gallery, Leaving Portraits from Eton College, exhibition catalogue 1991 (p. 34)
• Ward, H. & Roberts, W., Romney: A Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonne of his Works, London, 1904 (p. 89)
• Kidson, Alex, George Romney: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Yale University Press, 2015 (Volume II, p.344, catalogue number 750)
• Dulwich Picture Gallery, Leaving Portraits from Eton College, exhibition catalogue 1991 (p. 34)
• Ward, H. & Roberts, W., Romney: A Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonne of his Works, London, 1904 (p. 89)
• Kidson, Alex, George Romney: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Yale University Press, 2015 (Volume II, p.344, catalogue number 750)
