Mobile menu
×

Carlton House

Carlton House, on London’s Pall Mall, was presented to George when he came of age in 1783. Over the next forty years he created an elegant sequence of colourful interiors, rich in textiles, filled with masterpieces of furniture, sculpture, porcelain and paintings, many of them purchased in Paris in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Among them were Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens and Teniers. These hung in carefully arranged groups above elegant furniture with elaborate veneers or incorporating porcelain and hardstone panels with gilt-bronze mounts.

At Carlton House George first experimented with schemes in a Chinese fantasy taste, which would later bear fruit at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. During the Regency and in the early years of George IV’s reign, Carlton House became the centre of court life, its lavish interiors acting as backdrop to increasingly spectacular entertainments. The building, however, suffered from structural defects and in 1827 it was demolished. Its furnishings were reused in the new architectural schemes at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle that became the focus of the final decade of George IV’s life.

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88)

Diana and Actaeon

Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820)

Commode

Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden 1606-Amsterdam 1669)

Agatha Bas (1611-1658)

Attributed to François Hervé (active 1781-96)

Side chair

Sèvres porcelain factory

Vase ferrés

Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820)

Commode

Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640)

Landscape with St George and the Dragon

Georges Jacob (1739-1814)

Settee

Breguet et Fils [Paris]

The 'Sympathique' clock

Sèvres porcelain factory

Vase à monter

Martin Carlin (1730-85)

Cabinet

Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640)

Portrait of a Woman

Attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732)

Floor standing clock

Thomas Parker (active 1808-30)

Pair of coffers-on-stand

Sèvres porcelain factory

Pair of mounted vases

Attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732)

Two medal cabinets

Étienne Levasseur (1721-1798)

Secretaire

Sèvres porcelain factory

Vases à monter

Attributed to André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732)

Two medal cabinets

Thomas Parker (active 1808-30)

Pair of coffers-on-stand

Aelbert Cuyp (Dordrecht 1620-Dordrecht 1691)

The Passage Boat

David Teniers the Younger (Antwerp 1610-Brussels 1690)

Peasants dancing outside a Tavern

Aelbert Cuyp (Dordrecht 1620-Dordrecht 1691)

An Evening Landscape with Figures and Sheep