ROBINSON, AFTER SIR WILLIAM BEECHEY A portrait of Her Royal Highness, the Princess Sophia

ROBINSON, AFTER SIR WILLIAM BEECHEY A portrait of Her Royal Highness, the Princess Sophia (1777-1848), three-quarter length in a black dress with white gauze sleeves and a white shawl embroidered with poppies, seated on a pillar, with a view of Windsor beyond, oil on canvas, 50.5" x 40" The reverse of the painting bears an old handwritten inscription "HRH The Princess Sophia, daughter of King George III, nat. 1777, ob. 1848, Sir. Wm. Beechey - pinxt Given by HRH to Sir John Conroy Bt." (on the reverse of the canvas) and "HRH The Princess Sophia, daughter of King George III 1777/ob.1848 Sir Wm. Beechey pinx - Given by HRH to Sir Conroy Bt." (on the stretcher). With an old label inscribed "A copy from the original painted by Robinson in the year 1820 (?) for the Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, presented by the Princess Sophia to Sir John Conroy Bart 1841". Provenance: HRH Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh. Sir John Conroy, Bt. 1841. Princess Sophia was born at Buckingham Palace, one of the six daughters of King George III and Queen Charlotte. She spent most of her life as a companion of her mother and the princesses were not allowed to mix with anyone outside the Royal Court. Tragically, for her last ten years she was blind. She died on 27th May 1848 at Vicarage Place, Kensington. She was buried in Kensal Green, Cemetery, London, rather than at Windsor Castle, as she wished to be near her brother, Prince Augustus Frederick, the Duke of Sussex.