Keys to Prints of the Coronation of George IV, and Investigation in the House of Lords in 1820

Keys to Prints of the Coronation of George IV, and Investigation in the House of Lords in 1820

James Stephanoff

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This print provides a key to the portraits in Stephanoff's "View of the House of Lords" (lower center), supplemented with a ground plan of the House of Lords (above), a key to a print of the Coronation of George IV by Stephanoff (at upper left), a view of the Villa D'Este on the lake of Como, the residence of her late Majesty Queen Caroline (at upper right), and finally directions for placing the prints in a related book. In 1820 the Lords had debated the Trials and Penalties Bill after hearing testimony on the purported adultery of Queen Caroline who then lived in Italy; the bill passed but was not sent on to the Commons so never became law. When George IV was crowned, Caroline returned to England hoping to be crowned queen, was welcomed by the public but prevented from entering Westminster Abbey.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Keys to Prints of the Coronation of George IV, and Investigation in the House of Lords in 1820Keys to Prints of the Coronation of George IV, and Investigation in the House of Lords in 1820Keys to Prints of the Coronation of George IV, and Investigation in the House of Lords in 1820Keys to Prints of the Coronation of George IV, and Investigation in the House of Lords in 1820Keys to Prints of the Coronation of George IV, and Investigation in the House of Lords in 1820

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.