Portrait of Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, as a boy

William Augustus was the youngest, and highly favoured, son of George II, and this portrait was painted shortly after the prince had been awarded the Order of the Garter - the highest rank of chivalric knighthood - in 1730, as he is shown wearing the colourful, sumptuous robes and the chain of the Order in the portrait. A magnificent, plumed hat lies on a table to one side, and the Duke holds an unidentifiable plan in his hand; in the distance, a warship perhaps hints at his parents' hopes of a heroic future in the navy.

But instead, William Augustus' infamous later military career earned him the nickname 'The Butcher of Culloden' for his violent repression of Scottish rebels: the battle of Culloden in 1746, and its aftermath, proved the decisive defeat of the Jacobite forces supporting the claims of 'Bonnie Prince' Charles Stuart to the British throne in place of George II.

The Italian artist, Jacopo Amigoni, was a well-travelled and prolific painter, his fashionably European Rococo portraits in much demand for their stylish swagger. He was in England between 1730 and 1739, working at court and for aristocratic patrons at their country houses.