Caroline of Ansbach (1683–1737), Consort of George II of Great Britain and Ireland

The paper backing of the miniature is inscribed in pencil in a nineteenth-century hand 120 / Prinzessin Wilhelmin[e] / followed by an illegible second line and bg. A paper label fixed to the fabric back of the frame is inscribed in ink in a nineteenth-century hand: Prinzessin / Wilhelmine / v. Sachsen / 8960 bg. / 80. / Gotha. There is no record of a Princess Wilhelmine of Saxe-Gotha in the first years of the eighteenth century, the period to which this miniature belongs. Comparison with a miniature by Benjamin Arlaud of Caroline of Ansbach in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, which is believed to have been painted about 1714, suggests that this may be by the same artist and of the same sitter (Richard Walker, The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Cambridge, 1992, no. 131, ill.). The princess's full name was Wilhelmina Carolina, and the inscription on the back may preserve a traditional identification of her as the sitter. Against the attribution of the present work to Benjamin Arlaud must be held the fact that it is on ivory; the artist is only known to have used vellum as a support, although ivory was coming into use at about this time.

In 1705 Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach married George Augustus (1683–1760), elector-prince of Hanover and later George II (1727–60) of Great Britain and Ireland. She was remarkable for her intellectual powers and was a friend of Leibnitz and of Newton; Alexander Pope, John Gay, and Lord Chesterfield were among the distinguished members of her circle.

Arlaud is believed to have been born in Geneva about 1670. He painted William III (1650–1702) in 1701, though it is not certain that this was in England; he was definitely there no later than 1709. His elder brother Jacques Antoine Arlaud (1668–1746), who spent much of his working life in Paris, had a more flamboyant style.

[2016; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

Estate of Isaac A. Josephi (until 1955)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 99.

Graham Reynolds with the assistance of Katharine Baetjer. European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, p. 118, no. 99, ill., state that comparison with a miniature by Arlaud of Caroline of Ansbach in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, painted about 1714, suggests that the MMA work is by the same artist and of the same sitter, but note that the fact that it is painted on ivory must be held against the attribution to Arlaud, who is only known to have used vellum as a support.