Credit: ©The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9740
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Portrait of Prince Augustus Frederick
Date
ca. 1838
Sitter
Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773 - 1843, British)
Creator
Thomas Phillips (1770 - 1845, British) , Painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (painting): 1439mm
width (painting): 1130mm
width (painting): 1130mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Three quarter length portrait of the Duke of Sussex, seated on the President’s chair of the Royal Society, the red leather upholstery surmounted by the Society’s coat-of-arms. Sussex is turned slightly to the right as viewed. On a table to the left rests portfolio of papers and the Society’s silver gilt mace. The table is covered by a blue cloth edged with a gold fringe. Sussex wears a black velvet suit with matching tasselled cap, knee breeches and grey silk stockings. On his left leg is the garter with the motto partly visible [“Honi soit qui mal y pense”]. He wears the Order of the Garter star and blue ribbon with an additional red ribbon from the neck from which hangs the oval medallion of Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Bath. Beneath these a white high-collared shirt and waistcoat, the latter colourfully embroidered. Sussex’s right elbow rests on the table and there are rings on the little and ring fingers of this hand. The left hand holds a sheaf of papers, the topmost reading: “Royal Society. Address of His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex President Nov. 30 1838.”
Augustus Frederick was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1828, he served as its President from 1830 to 1838.
Augustus Frederick was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1828, he served as its President from 1830 to 1838.
Transcription
THE DUKE OF SUSSEX, Pres.R.S. By T.Phillips
Object history
Presented or bequeathed by the Duke of Sussex [?], mid-19th century.
Not recorded in lists of presents for the period of Sussex’s Presidency and to the time of his death in 1843. The painted inscription within the portrait referring to the sitter’s Presidential Address of 1838 has an earlier painted-over version, of which “1837” (the correct date for the Address) is just visible. This would seem to indicate the approximate date of composition. Logically, acquisition by the Royal Society should be between this date and the death of Sussex if later catalogues are correct in naming the Duke of Sussex as the donor. However, the picture is not listed in Weld’s 1848 summary of the Society’s portraits [A history of the Royal Society...in two volumes, by Charles Richard Weld (John W.Parker, London, 1848) vol,2, p.579-581], only appearing in his later 1860 catalogue. [Descriptive catalogue of the portraits in the possession of the Royal Society, by Charles Richard Weld (Taylor and Francis, London, 1860), p.65]. If Weld is correct, the work must have been acquired in this twelve-year period.
Not recorded in lists of presents for the period of Sussex’s Presidency and to the time of his death in 1843. The painted inscription within the portrait referring to the sitter’s Presidential Address of 1838 has an earlier painted-over version, of which “1837” (the correct date for the Address) is just visible. This would seem to indicate the approximate date of composition. Logically, acquisition by the Royal Society should be between this date and the death of Sussex if later catalogues are correct in naming the Duke of Sussex as the donor. However, the picture is not listed in Weld’s 1848 summary of the Society’s portraits [A history of the Royal Society...in two volumes, by Charles Richard Weld (John W.Parker, London, 1848) vol,2, p.579-581], only appearing in his later 1860 catalogue. [Descriptive catalogue of the portraits in the possession of the Royal Society, by Charles Richard Weld (Taylor and Francis, London, 1860), p.65]. If Weld is correct, the work must have been acquired in this twelve-year period.
Associated place
