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Secondary sourcePainting1830

King William IV Holding Magna Carta

Robert Bowyer · 1830

An 1830 mezzotint portrait of King William IV resting his hand on a scroll of the Magna Carta. It shows how the charter was used as a royal symbol centuries later.

It shows how Magna Carta was later used as a royal symbol, with William IV, not King John, holding the scroll.

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Black and white mezzotint portrait of a man with curly white hair in a dark coat with a high white cravat, wearing a star-shaped order badge on his chest. He rests his right hand on a rolled scroll in front of a dark drape with a tassel. Inscription below reads painted by R. Bowyer, London published by R. Bowyer and M. Parker 1830, engraved by David Lucas.
Robert Bowyer, King William IV holding Magna Carta, mezzotint by David Lucas after Bowyer, 1830. Wellcome Collection, London.

About this source

What it is

This is a black-and-white mezzotint portrait from 1830, held by the Wellcome Collection in London. Robert Bowyer painted the original, and David Lucas engraved the print. It shows a man with curly white hair, wearing a dark coat, a high white cravat and a star-shaped order badge. He rests his right hand on a rolled scroll, which the print identifies as a scroll of the Magna Carta.

Why it matters

The sitter is William IV, who ruled centuries after 1215. The print is not a picture of the 1215 event. It shows that the charter was still used as a symbol of royal authority and of the law in the nineteenth century. Portraits like this one present a king as a guardian of old rights.

Look closer

  • Why might the artist have placed a scroll of Magna Carta in the king's hand?
  • What details of clothing and badges tell you about the sitter's rank?
  • Does this portrait tell you anything about King John, or only about how later rulers wanted to be seen?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Magna Carta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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