CHARLES JERVAS. (Irish, 1675 - 1739). Queen Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach when Princess of Wales, Oil on canvas. Portrait of Queen Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737) wearing ermine-trimmed robes of state over an embroidered silk gown who is standing between richly carved furniture and with a crown on a ledge to her right. Princess Caroline, from the small German principality of Ansbach, married the future King George II (1683-1760) in 1705. Unsigned. Framed. - 80 in. x 43 in.; Framed, 89 in. x 52 in. Estimate $7,000-10,000
PROVENANCE: Acquired at J. Leger & Son, London, by Robert Worth Bingham, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1933 to 1937, and his wife Alena Lithgow Hilliard Bingham, as a gift to Stratford Hall . (Mrs. Bingham was on the Stratford Hall board) in 1936 and later deaccessioned by Stratford Hall and sold at Sotheby's in 1999 Allegedly, Queen Caroline, upon hearing that Thomas Lee's Virginia birthplace, Machodoc had burned in 1729, gave him 300 pounds from her privy purse to help construct a new estate, Stratford Hall. During World War II, the Stratford Hall Board of Directors established the Queen Caroline fund to repay the 300 pounds loan to England while supporting "Bundles for Britain, " an organization providing clothing and medical supplies. Lady Astor presented Queen Mary in 1942 with the sum of 406 pounds, thus repaying with interest Thomas Lee's original debt to Queen Caroline!. NOTE: Charles Jervas was the official portrait painter of King George II, husband of Queen Caroline; Jervas studied under Geoffrey Kneller.
