Head-and-shoulders classical-style bust of George IV in light grey marble, the head turned to sitter's left, on a round socle. The king is shown in a loose tunic-type robe secured at the right shoulder by a round brooch bearing a lion's head, from which a tassel also hangs to the front. His natural-style curly hair has been achieved by considerable relief undercutting.
This bust is the eleventh and last replica of the prime version, shown at the Royal Academy in 1822 and now in the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth. A twelfth was ordered but never executed. This one was commissioned in 1826 by Frederick John Robinson while he was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1823-27), to commemorate the king's 'sterling qualities', and was presented to him as a royal gift towards the end of his term of office in April 1827, when he was first ennobled as Viscount Goderich and became leader of the House of Lords under Canning: when Canning died that August he briefly succeeded him as Prime Minister, at the king's request but had to stand down after five months, though he occupied a series of further senior government posts into the 1840s and was made 1st Earl of Ripon in 1833.
The bust cost the king 200 guineas, the bill being paid in 1829, and is signed on the back ' Chantrey SC'.
This bust was purchased by Sir James Caird for the Museum in October 1932 from a collateral descendant of Lord Ripon.
Famous for his dissolute lifestyle and his Royal Pavilion in Brighton, George became prince regent in 1811 and king in 1820.
George was born on 17 August 1762, the eldest son of George III and Queen Charlotte. The Hanoverian kings were notorious for having bad relations with their heirs, and George III and his son were no exception. George's extravagant lifestyle caused his father to regard him with contempt. In 1785, George secretly and illegally married a Roman Catholic, Maria Fitzherbert. In 1795, he was officially married to Princess Caroline of Brunswick, in exchange for parliament paying his debts. The marriage was a disaster and George tried unsuccessfully to divorce her after his accession. In 1811, George became regent after his father was declared insane. He was able to indulge his love for parades and spectacle after the final defeat of Napoleon by Britain and her allies in 1815.
George became king in 1820. He visited Hanover in 1821 and his visit to Scotland the following year was the first by a British monarch since 1650. His interest in government was sporadic and he enjoyed varied relations with his ministers. Although he had courted Whig politicians in his youth, this was mainly to annoy his father, and he became increasingly pro-Tory. He intrigued against the Earl of Liverpool, prime minister from 1820 to 1827, but approved of George Canning, who became foreign secretary in 1822 and prime minister in 1827. In 1829 George was forced by his ministers, much against his will, to agree to Catholic Emancipation.
Throughout his adult life, George was an important artistic patron, acquiring an impressive collection of art and patronising architects and designers, most notably at Brighton. He first visited the seaside town in 1783, returning frequently and from 1815 developing the Royal Pavilion in an exotic combination of Indian and Chinese styles.
In the last years of his life George had little involvement in government and spent his time in seclusion at Windsor Castle. He died on 26 June 1830. His only child, Princess Charlotte had died in childbirth in 1817, so the crown passed to George's brother who became William IV.