George IV came to the throne in 1820. He had been Prince Regent since 1811, when his father was incapacitated by a mental disease. An important patron of the arts, collector and connoisseur, George IV sat for several portraits by painter Thomas Gainsborough. Many other leading artists of the period also painted him "in the sumptuous uniforms in which he loved to dress up"--though he in fact never served in the military.