In 1699 the State Apartments at Hampton Court were decorated for William III (1650-1702) using tapestries from Henry VIII's Abraham and Joshua sets, two of the most valuable series in the Collection. For this purpose, the tapestries were specially cleaned and some parts rewoven, at the considerable cost of £206. This watercolour shows the Queen's State Bedchamber in 1819, with three pieces of the Joshua series still visible on the walls. However, by this time the tapestries were partly hidden by paintings as well as the state bed. By the time of George III (1738–1820) and George IV (1762–1830), paintings – not tapestries – were esteemed most highly by collectors of art, and had begun to take prominence in decorative schemes. As a result, the first highly illustrated history of the palaces, Pyne's Royal Residences (1819), contains only a handful of references to tapestries, in contrast to more detailed descriptions of other items in the Collection. Nevertheless, the accompanying illustrations – including this one – provide important evidence of tapestries' continued display across the residences.