Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and 7th Earl of Winchilsea

Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and 7th Earl of Winchilsea, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt, circa 1720 -NPG 3910 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue

Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and 7th Earl of Winchilsea

by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt
circa 1720
31 in. x 41 in. (787 mm x 1041 mm)
NPG 3910

Inscriptionback to top

Inscribed in yellow, upper left: Danl. E. of Nottingham./by Sr: G.

This portraitback to top

Recalling two famous instances of a triple portrait painted for a sculptor’s information: the Charles I by Van Dyck of c.1635 and the Richelieu by Philippe de Champaigne of 1642. [1] William Stukeley’s diary records on 11 June 1720: ‘Ld. Nottingham had his face taken 3 different ways in order for a bust’. [2] The date may indicate that of the picture or may simply recount what Kneller then told Stukeley as he was sitting for his portrait but, since Rysbrack’s bust has been dated c.1723, the first seems probable. Given the differences between the bust and the painting, Stewart (1983) had been reluctant to accept a direct connection with the Rysbrack bust, [3] yet it seems more likely than not.

Footnotesback to top

1) Respectively in the Royal Collection (S. J. Barnes, N. de Poorter, O. Millar & H. Vey, Van Dyck, a Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, 2004, iv.48), and the National Gallery, London (798).
2) Ed. W. C. Lukis, Surtees Soc., 73, 1882, p 60.
3) In 1978 he had been less dogmatic (Burl. Mag., CXX, 1978, p 216n7).

Referenceback to top

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 383.

Stewart 1983
J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.857 as c.1715 and p 72n62(6).

Provenanceback to top

The Earls of Winchilsea and Nottingham; Christie’s, 9 May 1947, lot 9; presented through the National Art Collections Fund by Sir Alec and Lady Martin 1954.

Exhibitionsback to top

British Portraits, RA, 1956, no.572; Two Centuries of British Portraits, British Council, Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, 1969; Beningbrough 1978–2004.


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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