The music party

Mercier, Philippe (1689-1760)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1733

Height:

45.1 cm  (17 3/4 in.)

Width:

57.8 cm  (22 3/4 in.)

Technique / Medium:

oil on canvas

Description

The 26-year-old Prince of Wales is shown playing the cello with his three eldest sisters, but the individual princesses cannot be identified with certainty. The most likely arrangement is (left to right), Anne, Princess Royal (age 24) playing harpsichord, Princess Amelia (age 22) plucking a mandolino, and Princess Caroline (age 20) reading from Milton. In the background is the Dutch House at Kew where Anne lived before her marriage in 1734 to Prince William of Orange. Mercer was principal painter to the Prince of Wales and drawing master to the Princesses.

People as subjects

Frederick Louis, prince of Wales (1707-1751) (Musician)
Amelia, Princess, daughter of George II, King of Great Britain (1711-1786) (Musician)
Anne, Princess, consort of William IV, Prince of Orange (1709-1759) (Musician)
Caroline Elizabeth, Pricess of Great Britain, Daughter of George II of Great Britain (1713-1757)

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Violoncello [3582]
Harpsichord [2251]
Mandole [3397] (also known as mandolino)

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1
image link 2

Notes

Two other versions of this painting survive. One is at Windsor (RIdIM item 4284), with the same figures set in the Banqueting House at Hampton Court. Another version, approximately the same size as the Windsor picture, has a background identical with NPG 1556, showing the Dutch House, Kew, and is at Frederick's one-time residence, Cliveden (RIdIM item 4283). The position of the sitters and their activities are the same in all three pictures.

RIdIM record id

4282