George IV's interiors at Carlton House

Carlton House, George IV's London residence as Prince of Wales, was demolished in the mid-1820s, but its interiors are recorded in a series of detailed watercolours. These were made as part of a project to publish views of all the royal residences between 1816 and 1819. This view shows the Blue Velvet Room in around 1816. The Blue Velvet Room was one of a suite of rooms on the principal floor of the house, overlooking the gardens. It was redecorated in 1811, when 246 metres of blue velvet were ordered to line the walls of this and the adjoining room. The watercolour shows the ceiling and corners decorated with painted scenes. The walls are lined with that blue velvet which gives the room its name, which coordinates with the lavish blue silk curtains which are draped over gilded curtain rails. The walls are hung with treasures from George's Dutch and Flemish painting collection, including the Rembrandt portrait of the shipbuilder and his wife, and the Albert Cuyp painting of a passage boat that sailed between Dordrecht and Rotterdam. The room is filled with French furniture, porcelain and sculptures, and two large Chinese vases, each over a metre high, form a focal point on the end wall underneath the Rembrandt. This was a room to be enjoyed, with plush sofas upholstered in the same beautiful silk as the curtains. George's restless connoisseurship meant that the interiors at Carlton House were constantly changing. The blue velvet room had previously been named the Admiral's Room, with a different interior scheme which was hung with paintings of naval heroes. Before that it had been a drawing room for George's wife, Princess Caroline. Paintings and decorative arts were constantly moved around the house. Although we can only take this as a view of the room as it looked at the moment when the watercolour was painted, it is nonetheless an invaluable view of George's lost residence. These wonderful snapshots of George's interiors were crucial in planning the exhibition George IV Art and Spectacle, and we have tried, in the way we have arranged the paintings and decorative arts in the galleries, to evoke something of the interiors that George himself would have known and enjoyed. .