In 18th century France, the aristocracy became known for its self-indulgence, circumstances that inflamed sentiment in favor of the French Revolution. The ladies of the British royal family had a different reputation.
Princesses Caroline, Augusta and Charlotte — the wife, daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law of King George II, respectively — were devoted to scientific, artistic, industrial and humanitarian philanthropy. Their scholarly enthusiasm helped bring about social changes that trickled down to the lowest rungs of society.
The Yale Center for British Art is honoring those far-sighted women with an exhibit “Enlightened Princesses: Caroline, Augusta, Charlotte and the Shaping of the Modern World.”
Tyler Griffith, a postdoctoral research associate who helped curate the exhibit, called the show “a feminist retelling of the 18th century, from the perspective of the consorts of monarchs.”
“The men were all involved in military and politics, but in reality it was the women who were doing really interesting stuff. They haven’t gotten a lot of credit for it,” Griffith said. “The world we live in now and identify as modern has it roots in the intelligence and passions and activities of these women. … There has been a huge gap in scholarship of the 18th century about the importance of the women.”
The exhibit features about 300 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, books, coins and other artifacts, 100 of which were loaned by the queen’s own collection, the largest single loan of items in that collection’s history. The show was curated in collaboration with Historic Royal Palaces in England. After it leaves Yale, it will go on display at Kensington Palace, where the princesses lived centuries ago and which is now the home of William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Visitors to the New Haven museum are greeted by three sumptuous state portraits of the ladies in the glow of youth and the grandeur of their royal positions: Caroline of Ansbach by Charles Jervas in 1727, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha by Jeremiah Davison in 1738 and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz by Allan Ramsay in 1763.
The princesses, all German-born, came to England as the result of arranged but harmonious marriages: Caroline to George II; Augusta to George II’s son Frederick, who died before ascending to the throne; and Charlotte to Frederick’s son George III, whose reign was troubled by the defeat in the American Revolution and his own mental instability.
The reigns of George II and III came when the power of kings was in decline. “After the Act of Parliament in 1701, they had to justify why they still needed a monarchy,” Griffith said. “The primary way they did that was through philanthropy.”
The bays in the exhibit are devoted to the women themselves: who they were — their lives, their husbands, their reputations, their friends and associates — and what they did. The biographical segments are viewed from the perspective of the women’s supporters and their detractors. During their lives, the press had an extraordinary amount of freedom, and journalists and political cartoonists, at times, were vicious in their treatment of the royal family. “When you’re queen, it blurs the line between public and private,” Griffith said.
Of the three, Caroline was the intellectual star, tutored as a girl by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and George Frideric Handel. She appointed Isaac Newton as court scientist, sponsored Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift and journalist Joseph Addison and financed experimentation in agronomy, astrology and electricity. Full operatic productions were presented in the palace, as seen William Hogarth’s painting “Beggar’s Opera.”
Caroline promoted smallpox eradication in its early days, when many people were afraid of inoculations. After her children were inoculated, she commissioned a dance for her daughters to perform in public, to demonstrate that the procedure did not diminish physical strength.
Augusta’s life was sadder. Her husband, who fought incessantly with his father, died when her son, George III, was 10 years old. Augusta was respected by her in-laws because of her charm and good maternal instincts, so they were kind to her despite the friction with Frederick. But after her husband’s death, her reputation was besmirched by rumors, probably untrue, of adultery. “The scandal ruined her life and crushed her spirit,” Griffith said. “She prided herself on her moral rightness. It caused her to lose faith in government, politics and the aristocracy.”
Augusta’s patronage is often is seen as an extension of her husband’s collecting and commissioning. Still, she was an enthusiastic collector and assembled a wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities), as was the fashion at the time. She also continued Caroline’s work in establishing, perfecting and expanding large public gardens, at Richmond and Kew. Later, Charlotte took over and took the gardens in a different direction. “For Caroline and Augusta, the gardens were a place for repose. Charlotte was building operable greenhouses and inviting real scientists and gardeners to do research,” Griffith said.
Charlotte gave George III 15 children but still found time to obsessively read a variety of scientific books and to promote intellectual advancement and culture. She commissioned seven sonatas by 8-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1765 and helped to found the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. Her interest in science led her to continue Caroline’s work to promote inoculation, sponsoring pioneering physician Edward Jenner.
Griffith said Charlotte often lost track of her own generosity. “She gave away so much money to philanthropies that she didn’t have enough money to give her dowries to her daughters,” Griffith said. “She began selling her belongings to provide them with dowries.”
All three princesses were devoted to advancements in the health and lives of women and children, reflecting a royal consort’s primary duty: to produce sons to succeed their fathers. “Their job was to provide legitimate heirs to the throne. There was a very strong incentive to survive and have healthy children,” Griffith said.
Charlotte hired as her physician obstetrician-anatomist William Hunter, who is best known for his groundbreaking research into human pregnancy. “His work ‘The Gravid Uterus’ helped to dispel Renaissance quackery about conception and delivery,” Griffith said.
Caroline commissioned a study of a foundling hospital in Paris. Its findings were used to open a hospital in London that was dedicated to housing homeless children, decreasing infant mortality and raising to adulthood the workers that the country needed to thrive. Augusta and Charlotte continued the royal patronage of the hospital and encouraged patronage by other members of the aristocracy, who embraced the challenge so enthusiastically that the foundling hospital became a place to “see and be seen.”
“It could be called the first modern nonprofit,” Griffith said.
ENLIGHTENED PRINCESSES: CAROLINE, AUGUSTS, CHARLOTTE AND THE SHAPING OF THE MODERN WORLD will be at Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St. in New Haven, until April 30. britishart.yale.edu.
