Benjamin West, christened the “American Raphael,” was a self-taught painter, American expat, and pretty egotistical dude.

After doing a grand Italian tour in his twenties, West was passing through England and decided to move to the country permanently. It’s possible he thought it’d be easier to make a living in England than in the States, or that he just had some really killer tea and crumpets and figured he’d stick around for more where that came from. Queen Charlotte was one of many paintings he ended up doing for the Royal family. He got on swimmingly with Charlotte’s husband, George III, who declared West the “Surveyor of the King’s Pictures”-- a snazzy way of saying “Person In Charge of All the Fancy Portraits We’ve Got.” 

As for the painting’s subject, Queen Charlotte was in her early thirties when this painting was done, decades after she’d moved to England from Northern Germany to marry George III as a teenager. Despite the fact that she didn’t speak a word of English when she got there, the marriage seemed to work out mostly okay; George got to do his kingly thing and Charlotte got to have a lot of kids and, in her spare time, pursue botany and become pen pals with Marie Antoinette, which, as far as things go for an 18th century woman, certainly ain’t the worst.

If you’re wondering why Charlotte’s hair makes her look like the Will Ferrell character from "Mega Mind," you’re not alone. Hair of the late 18th century abided by one very simple rule, which was: the more poof, the better. Towering coifs, like the one depicted here, were all the rage. You could even have a "coiffure a la Fregate,'' a style which involved women securing a model ship atop a figurative sea of styled hair. These popular styles were so elaborate that women rarely did them on their own and often hired professional stylists. And since hairspray didn’t show up on the scene for a couple more centuries, lard was often used to keep styles in place, which did keep luscious locks locked, but also had an unfortunate and unintended consequence; rats were sometimes found inside styled hair pieces. So if you’re thinking about trying a DIY Fregate, maybe go a little more Bumble & Bumble and a little less Blue Bonnet.