Queen Anne and the Knights of the Garter

Artistback to top

• Peter Angelis (1685-1734). Artist associated with 3 portraits.

Sittersback to top

• Queen Anne (1665-1714), Reigned 1702-14. Sitter associated with 72 portraits.
• Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort (1684-1714), Tory politician. Sitter in 3 portraits.
• Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent (1664-1740), Lord Justice. Sitter in 1 portrait.
• Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford (1661-1724), Politician. Sitter associated with 14 portraits.
• Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough (1658-1735), Soldier. Sitter associated with 21 portraits.
• John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett (1663-1743), First Lord of the Treasury. Sitter in 1 portrait.
• Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury (1660-1718), Politician. Sitter in 7 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This group portrait of the court of Queen Anne is thought to show the institution of the new Knights of the Garter at a ceremony held at Kensington Palace on 4 August 1713, the year before the queen's death. Though the six knights then invested with the insignia of the Order cannot be individually identified in the picture, they were all of high rank, and included most notably the politician Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, and the erstwhile soldier and diplomat Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough. This scene is the work of Peter Angelis, a Flemish artist who worked in London (c.1716-28) painting small conversation pieces, and may have belonged to an intended series of paintings illustrating Stuart history.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Ingamells, John, Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, 2009, p. 355
• Piper, David, The English Face, 1992, p. 118
• Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 392
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 705

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Art in art
• Crowns and tiaras
• Events and occasions
• Group portraits
• Known interiors