Portrait George I, King of England (1660-1727)

Portrait of George I, King of England. The British monarch is shown here as a chest in front view with head turned to the left, the view of the observer. He wears a long wig, armor and a cloak of Hermelinpelz. The portrait is surrounded by a wreath of plants wrapped in scrolls. This one rests on a base The front view of the same adorns a relief with an allegorical representation as well as a cartouche on which a horse takes a racecourse in the gallop. The cartouche continues to decorate a crown. Born as Duke Georg Ludwig of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, the monarch emerged from the dynasty of the Welfen. Due to the Act of Settlement, he became King of Great Britain as George I in 1714. In the summer of 1710 he brought Georg Friedrich Händel to Hanover and appointed him as court band champion. From this sheet there are other copies at the Duke August Library in Wolfenbüttel and the Austrian National Library in Vienna. Since nothing else is known about the dating of the leaf, the last mention of the stabler, Jakob Wilhelm Heckenauer, is used as a dating approach. Signature: I. B. Knocke delin. Heckenauer sculps. Caption: Georg Lud. M. Britann. Rex, Dux Brunsv Lun: Sac. Rome. Imp. Elector. In recto decus. (Stiftung Händel-Haus Halle Foundation)