Uploader's Comments

The Royal Arms of King George III (1786), painted on panel. Quarter 1, Gold Lions of England impaled with Red Lion of Scotland, 2 Silver Fleurs de Lys of France, 3 Golden Harp of Ireland, 4 in three parts - 2 Gold Lions (Brunswick), 1 Blue Lion (Luneberg), 1 White Horse (Westphalia) Inescutcheon (the middle), the Elector of Hanovers Bonnet. The Arms as painted are those of George I and show his claim to the kingdom of France via the English monarchys Angevin ancestry. In George IIIs time, France was dropped from the Arms, Hanover became a kingdom and a Crown replaced the Bonnet. In English country churches, to celebrate a coronation, it was quite usual for Royal Arms to simply change the name or number of the monarch, and leave the heraldry intact, as here. The painting has been restored, possibly in 1912. All the colours are crisp and clear, unlike C18 paints which usually bleed into each other. The supporting Lions masculinity has been toned down in keeping with Edwardian propriety, but the Unicorns belly has been most bizarrely transformed. The restorer may have been re-tracing a particularly faded or soot blackened pair of animals - see the Lions flabby hind feet. (Photo Apr 2014).