Michael Dahl

Sitterback to top

• Michael Dahl (1659-1743), Portrait painter. Sitter in 2 portraits, Artist associated with 168 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Michael Dahl (1659-1743), Portrait painter. Artist associated with 168 portraits, Sitter in 2 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Born in Stockholm, Dahl learned the grammar of the Baroque manner from Elvenstrahl. He came to London in 1682 and was in Italy in 1685-9. Thereafter he appears to have been in London where he was consistently fashionable, being Godfrey Kneller's only near rival in popularity, until about 1740. He was especially patronised by the court in Queen Anne's reign and by the Harleys, a Tory family. In this self-portrait Dahl has shown himself resting against a plinth and pointing to a female bust beneath which rests his palette and brushes.

Linked publicationsback to top

• I-Spy National Portrait Gallery, 2010, p. 20
• Ingamells, John, Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, 2009, p. 67
• Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 100
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 161

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Making art
• On display at the Gallery
• Self-portraits
• Self-portraits tour