This oval ivory-coloured wax head and shoulders portrait depicts Frederick, Prince of Wales, oldest son of George II. He is shown in profile facing left and wearing armour and the ribbon of the Order of the Garter. It is set on sanded cavetto moulded gilt ground with an oval ebonised wood frame.

Vertue described the skill of the ‘Ingenious Isaac Gosset’ as ‘so universally approved on for likeness’ that he dedicated a section in his notebooks to wax carving, which he considered a growing industry. Gosset was from a Huguenot family which had fled to Jersey after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The family later moved to London and Isaac learned wax modelling and frame carving from his uncle Matthew. His wax production was prolific and covered both classical and contemporary figures. Gosset’s renown lay in the fact that, unlike most contemporary wax modellers, he worked from life, and at speed, apparently producing a portrait in under an hour. Gosset also created a secret recipe for tinting his wax to appear like old ivory. His waxes were highly fashionable and were sold at four guineas a piece for an original portrait or one guinea for a copy. Vertue noted that Gosset ‘had the honour of the King sitting to him’ as well as ‘great numbers of persons of Quality and persons of distinction – Learned and others’.

Queen Caroline is known to have commissioned various works from Gosset, and may even have granted him a pension. The Picture Closet at Kensington displayed numerous waxes, framed both singly and in groups of up to 16 figures. Some Vertue catalogued as historic and contemporary princes but most remained unidentified.

Text adapted from The First Georgians; Art and Monarchy 1714 - 1760, London, 2014.