King William III

This portraitback to top

NPG 1026 is a weak version of the large equestrian portrait of William III now in a Dutch private collection, last exhibited in 1964 attributed to Jan van Wijck. [1] Piper rejected this attribution and Staring tentatively attributed it to Jan van Huchtenburgh. The portraits are almost the same size, with the King and horse in almost identical positions, but NPG 1026 shows the King’s right arm lowered to reveal the Garter badge and ribbon on the wrong side of his breastplate (as if copied from an engraving), the head relating more closely to the Kneller coronation portrait of 1690, and the horse wilder-eyed. The background action, showing troops fording a river with distant hills on the left, may be meant to refer to the battle of the Boyne of 1690.

Footnotesback to top

1) Lent by the Dowager Jonkheer W. G. Groeninx van Zoelen; A. Staring, ‘De Portretten van den Koning-Stadhouder’, Nederlandsch. Kunsthistorisch. Jaarboek, III, 1951, pl.29 as Jan van Huchtenburgh 1690?; illus. William and Mary, Arts Council, 1950, no.48, pl.x, and exhibited Orange and the Rose 1964, no.78, on both occasions attributed to Jan Wijck.

Referenceback to top

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, pp 378-79 as artist unknown.

Staring 1951
A. Staring, ‘De Portretten van den Koning-Stadhouder’, Nederlandsch. Kunsthistorisch. Jaarboek, III, 1950-51, p 188 as perhaps by Jan van Huchtenburgh.

Provenanceback to top

Henry Yates Thompson (1838-1928),¹ by whom presented 1896.

¹ Press magnate, collector and Chairman of the Dulwich Picture Gallery 1908-19.

Exhibitionsback to top

Beningbrough 1979–.


This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685–1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

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