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Regency

George IV (1762-1830), when Prince of Wales©

Though the Regency technically covers only nine years (from 1811 to 1820) the word has come to describe the decades around the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This was an era defined by the manners and dress of the Prince Regent and by his extravagant tastes seen in the sumptuous interiors of his residence at Carlton House. As Regent, the Prince was a keen patron of British artists, such as George Stubbs and Francis Chantrey, but he had other eclectic tastes. Records of the paintings at Carlton House show his particular love of finely crafted Dutch and Flemish paintings of the seventeenth century.

The Regent was obsessive in his collecting of French art; he owned some magnificent paintings, such as Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun’s celebrated portrait of Charles-Alexandre de Calonne, but nothing to compare with his unrivalled selection of French porcelain and furniture. Perhaps the Prince’s most idiosyncratic taste was for chinoiserie – a number of apartments in Carlton House were decorated with fantastical oriental figures, and simulated lacquer and bamboo.

The majority of works displayed here were acquired or created for Carlton House; they almost all reflect the Prince’s love of the opulent, the theatrical and the spectacular.

The Royal Collection holds an important group of paintings by George Stubbs; all of them were acquired by George IV when Prince of Wales and all of them (with the exception of OM 1115, 400512) were sent in 1822 from Carlton House to the King’s Lodge (la
British

Objects produced by British artists, manufacturers and authors

Genre scenes and Dutch style

Dutch and Flemish paintings

The cabinet, rectangular in shape, has incurving splayed sides lined in glass and divided by a shelf. It is supported on four fluted tulipwood peg-top feet. The single door in the front is flanked by ebony panels fitted with matching candelabrum mounts. T
French

Collection of French art

Master: Pair of peacock vases and covers mounted as pots-pourris
The wider world

Objects from around the world

Like most of the rooms at Carlton House, the Blue Velvet Room and the adjoining Closet underwent a considerable number of changes of decoration and nomenclature from the time that George IV took up residence in 1783 to the time he abandoned the house to t
Carlton House

The interior and objects of Carlton House


The income from your ticket contributes directly to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The aims of The Royal Collection Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities.