By George! Important paintings of king will be sold off in Capital

Published on 14/11/2012 12:00

Two paintings depicting the triumphant arrival of George IV at Leith in 1822 are to be sold in the Capital.

The works by Thomas Buttersworth will go on sale at Lyon & Turnbull on November 29 in their Fine Paintings Sale. The paintings, valued at £30,000, are viewed as significant in British political portraiture. Organised for political reasons, it was hoped the visit of George IV would serve to increase the king’s popularity north of the Border and quell the rumblings of Scottish radicals. Buttersworth was to record the moment the King’s vessel the Royal George docked into the Port of Leith. Here he was greeted by thousands of his Scottish subjects and conveyed along the streets of Edinburgh, transformed into a festival of traditional pageantry, up to the Castle.

Nick Curnow, managing director and Painting Specialist at Lyon & Turnbull, said: “The visit was organised by the famous author Sir Walter Scott.”