+ Expand

Description: Adonis, the favourite charger of King George III
oil on panel
60.5 x 71cm (23 13/16 x 27 15/16in).

+ Expand

Notes:
The present work is an autograph replica of Ward's original painting which measured 32 x 44 in., of King George III's favourite charger, Adonis. The original version, whose whereabouts is now unknown, was reproduced in a lithograph by Ward as one of a series of fourteen horses dedicated to His Majesty King George III, published by R. Ackerman in 1823/4. Eleven of these fourteen paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1813-26. The Royal Academy also lists two later versions of the series in its Exhibition of 1842: 'King George III's favourite charger, Adonis' (no. 440) and 'King George IV's favourite charger, Non Pareil'. A further version, measuring 24 x 28 1/2 in., was with Edward Spielman (see Oliver Beckett, The Life and Work of James Ward, (Sussex, 1995), col.pl. 15). Although the Royal Academy catalogue gives no dimensions, either the latter or the present painting may be the no. 440 listed at the Royal Academy in 1842.

King George III was depicted on his favourite charger, Adonis, in Sir William Beechey's celebrated canvas that was destroyed in the 1992 fire at Windsor Castle, having been too large to move.