The Cupola Room was the principal state room of the palace and the most lavishly decorated. The ceiling and trompe l'oeil paintings on the walls were executed by William Kent. In the year that this view was first published, the room was the setting for the baptism of Princess Victoria (the future Queen Victoria). This illustration was published in W H Pyne's 'The History of the Royal Residences', which appeared in three volumes in 1819, depicting the royal palaces as they appeared in the reign of King George III (1760-1820)