Discover British view images of the American Revolution behind our videos and posts. These visuals shape how we remember — and reimagine — the Revolutionary Era. Each image tells its own story, highlighting a key figure, event, or idea, with context about the artist and historical significance. Explore these Revolutionary Era visuals to dig even deeper into history.
Explore the Images of the American Revolution – A British View
One of my favorite aspects of the American Revolution is its wonderful images. Images of the British view that inform us about the American Revolution complement our videos and posts, where there is often limited space to share more about the images themselves, their artists, and their backstories. Yet we believe you should know them — at least to some extent — because they add depth to how we Americans perceive and picture the Revolution and, equally important, how our collective memory of the Revolutionary Era has been shaped and reshaped over the centuries.
Almost all of the images we use in our program, as well as the music, are in the Public Domain. For those that aren’t, we’ve included links, licenses, and attributions. If you use any of these images, please provide proper credit and include links when required.
This post features British view images of the American Revolution, each presented individually with its historical significance and the artist’s background. These posts are designed for exploration — enjoy browsing, learning, and linking to related history posts. Explore these Revolutionary Era visuals to dig even deeper into history.
King George III
George William Frederick (r. 1760-1820) was the King of Great Britain and Ireland. At the time of his death in 1820, he was the longest serving British monarch. And in British history, he is the third longest reigning monarch, after Queen Elizabeth II (the longest) and Queen Victoria (the second longest).
George III was the first Hanoverian monarch to be born in England. Unlike his predecessor, George II and George I, he spoke English as his primary language.
We Americans know about the George III in the context of the American Revolution, most famously our grievances against him listed in the Declaration of Independence. However, as Dr. Bell explains, George III was shocked when he read the Declaration, not only because of the allegations volleyed against him but, more importantly, because he did not have the power to commit any of the acts that underpinned those allegations. In short, George III was not the big, bad despot that Thomas Jefferson made him out to be.
His power to rule was limited by Britain’s constitutional monarchy. So while he could select ministers and wield influence, the real big, bad despot portrayed in our Declaration of Independence was the British Parliament—which had all the power—not the King.
Before the American Revolution and in its early years, George III was mocked by Britons for his frugality, his physical appearance and boring life – he didn’t even have a mistress!
Regardless, as Dr. Bell explains in my interview with him, the King became highly popular after the American Revolution with many segments of the British people. Significantly, it was at this time that Britain changed its hymn from “Rule, Britannia” to “Long live the King”.
This 1768 portrait of George III is by Nathaniel Dance-Holland (1735-1811). He was a politician and painter, with many prominent works to his name, including the 1768-69 Portrait of Queen Charlotte (George III’s wife) and the 1775 Portrait of James Cook. Dance-Holland was one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Arts.
This image is in the Public Domain.
Queen Charlotte
“Queen Charlotte in Robes of State”, by Joshua Reynolds, 1779 (oil on canvas, public domain). Painted in Reynolds’s London studio, this three-quarter-length portrait shows Queen Charlotte seated and turned slightly to the left, gazing toward the viewer. She wears an ermine-trimmed gown, lace sleeves, and a jeweled choker, with powdered hair adorned with pearls and a small crown. The red drapery is drawn back to reveal a fluted stone column behind her.
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris was signed by representatives of the American colonies and King George III of Great Britain.
According to Dr. Blaufarb, the French were shocked when they learned that the Americans—whose war for independence they had supported—had conducted separate and secret negotiations with the British. France engaged in separate negotiations with Britain, as did its allies Spain and the Dutch Republic. Together these were called the Peace of Paris, and they were signed in separate locations on September 3, 1783. The American colonies and Great Britain signed in Paris. The Kingdom of France and Great Britain signed in Versailles.
This painting is Benjamin West and is appropriately titled Treaty of Paris. The American delegation John Jay (standing in the far left), John Adams (sitting in front of Jay), Benjamin Franklin (also sitting), Henry Laurens (standing) and William Temple Franklin (resting his chin on his left hand).
The British commissioners refused to pose, and the portrait was never finished.
Benjamin West (1738-1820) was an American artist with an impressive gallery of historical paintings to his credit, including The Death of Nelson (1806) and Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (1805).
There is an interesting story hidden in this lineup of American delegates, one that represents the deep and irreconcilable divisions caused by the American Revolution.
William Temple Franklin was Benjamin Franklin’s grandson. Although William was a Patriot, his father, William Franklin (Benjamin Franklin’s son), was the leader of the Loyalists who left the American colonies in 1782 for London and never returned. William Franklin, as most of us should remember from high school history, was the Colonial Governor of New Jersey (1763-76), and was captured and imprisoned by the Patriots from 1776 to 1778. Benjamin Franklin refused to reconcile with his son, and met with him only once mainly for family business matters, after the Revolutionary War in Southampton, England, in 1785.
This image is in the Public Domain.
About This Program
Analyzing American Revolution (AAR) is a special series podcast production of the History Behind News program. In this series, 33 professors (and counting) analyze the American Revolution from 33 different angles through in-depth interviews with host Adel Aali.
Themes of the Revolution
Tap below for a closer look at the Revolutionary Era themes we examine—and to meet our guest scholars.
Visit our Revolutionary Era Blog page for
- Interview Transcript Highlights
- Interview Image and Artist Highlights
- Quiz Answers and Backstories
Visual Index of the American Revolution
Explore the backstories and artist bios behind images of our Founding—before and after the American Revolution. These visuals shape how we remember—and reimagine—the Revolutionary Era.
Experienced Analysis of History
About HbN Program:
The History Behind News program (HbN) is committed to making in-depth history researched and written by scholars enjoyable and accessible to everyone. Our motto is bridging scholarly works to everyday news.
The histories we’ve uncovered encompass an impressively wide range of subjects from ancient history to U.S. politics and economy to race, women’s rights, immigration, climate, science, military, war, China, Europe, Middle East, Russia & Ukraine, Africa and the Americas to many other issues in the news. We also receive advanced copies of scholarly books and discuss them in our program (in the context of current news).
198 Scholars & Counting:
Our guests are scholars in prestigious institutions, such as Oxford, Yale, Caltech, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, the Hoover Institution, the American Enterprise Institute, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, King’s College London, Princeton University, Notre Dame, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, the Atlantic Council, Duke, Amherst College, University of Michigan, Rhodes College, Emory University, Northwestern Law, Vanderbilt University, US Naval War College, Air Command and Staff College, Marine Corp University, US Army War College, UVA, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, NYU, Rice, University of Chicago, White House Historical Association, Baylor University, USC, UC Berkeley, UCSF, UCI, UCSD, UC Davis, UCR, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Israel Democracy Institute, University of Aberdeen, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, University of Navarra, University of Seville, Helsinki University, Diego Portales University (Chile), Lund University (Sweden), University of Edinburgh, Near East University (Türkiye), Cardiff University, the Free University of Berlin and many others.
They include Pulitzer Prize winners, renowned documentary producers, former White House advisors and other high-ranking government officials, and current and former senior reporters at The Wall Street Journal and New York Times Magazine. Many have testified in Congressional hearings and others frequently contribute to major media outlets and widely read publications, ranging from the BBC, NPR, PBS and MSNBC to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
Think You Know the American Revolution?
