Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales

George Dawe's portrait of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales of 1817 documents one of the most beloved figures of the Regency period at the height of her public popularity, just months before her sudden death in childbirth in November 1817. Princess Charlotte, daughter of the future George IV, was seen by the British public as a more appealing heir to the throne than her father and the Hanoverian establishment generally, and her death produced one of the most extraordinary public outpourings of grief in British history. Dawe was a competent professional portraitist who had access to the royal family; this portrait captures Charlotte as a young woman of rank and confidence without foreknowledge of how shortly it would become a memorial image. The National Portrait Gallery's picture is a record of thwarted dynastic hopes.

Dawe employs the formal portrait conventions of the Regency period: sumptuous dress, three-quarter view, and an interior setting with architectural or drapery background that signals the sitter's rank. The face is given competent individual modeling. The overall handling is accomplished if not distinguished, appropriate to a professional court portraitist.