HENRY BONE

This miniature derives from a portrait of the Prince, painted by Thomas Phillips in 1806. Versions of the Bone copies date from 1806 to 1812 and three which are identical to the present portrait are in the British Royal Collection (see R. Walker, The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, Cambridge, 1992, pp. 277 and 280, nos. 753 and 755, and V. Remington, Victorian Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2010, I, p. 77, no. 110).

George, the future King George IV, relied heavily on Bone for his enamel images and was the first British monarch to distribute royal family order badges (such as the one worn recently by Queen Camilla of Charles III, painted by Elizabeth Meek). George seemed to appreciate that enamels were robust enough to be worn yet still had the delicacy of a portrait miniature. George IV liked to give copies of his portrait away as presents, for example to the young Princess Victoria in 1826.

Henry Bone was born in Truro in Cornwall, the son of a woodcarver and cabinet maker, and began his artistic career painting on china for local manufacturers. In about 1779, he moved to London, where he became established as one of the most outstanding enamellists of his day. He was appointed enamel painter to the future George IV in 1801, before holding the same position to George III from 1809, and later George IV and William IV and was described by a contemporary as a ‘worthy, kind, liberal and affectionate man’. The present enamel is likely signed and dated on the counter enamel by Bone.