Prince William (1765-1837), later Duke of Clarence, Allan Ramsay, circa 1767

This portrait of c. 1767 shows the two-year-old prince william (future william iv) as a boisterous baby beating a drum (decorated with the royal cipher) in what is otherwise a quiet and elegant setting (the contrast perhaps deliberate). The painting of the english silver-gilt hot water urn (what the russians would call a 'samovar') and china tea-cups and cream jug is especially subtle - the detail never asserting itself against the harmonious and soft half-light of the scene as a whole. The drum rests on a little stool over which is draped an ermine-lined mantle. Like the portrait of queen charlotte with her two eldest sons (om 998, 404922), the head was executed on a separate piece of canvas and stitched into the larger composition. Object Type: painting. Genre: portrait. Date: circa 1767. Dimensions: height: 127.5 cm (50.1 in); width: 101.5 cm (39.9 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Depicted People: William IV. Collection: Royal Collection. Ramsay - Prince William, later Duke of Clarence