Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin

This portraitback to top

The whole-length original by Kneller at Blenheim shows two steps across the foreground, [1] and a version was at Cornbury. [2] A slightly cut down whole-length, said to be inscribed verso 1709, in an American private collection in 1989, probably came from Hornby Castle. [3] A second three-quarter-length appears to have been at Hornby Castle; [4] another was listed in an English private collection in 1984, and a bust-length was lent by the Earl of St Germans to the Second Special Exhibition of National Portraits ( ... William and Mary to MDCCC), South Kensington, 1867, no.101 (a ‘coarse, heavy old copy’ commented Scharf). [5] Engraved as a reversed bust-length oval by J. Smith 1707 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 116). [6] Copied as an oval half-length enamel by Charles Boit (British Museum; Hull Grundy gift) [7] - conceivably the model for the pencil copy by Henry Bone (NPG; D17264). [8]

Footnotesback to top

1) G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 198; illus. T. Lever, Godolphin, 1952, p 208. A pencil copy by Edward Byng is in the British Museum (E. Croft-Murray & P. Hulton, British Museum, Catalogue of British Drawings: XVI and XVII centuries, 1960, p 207 (1897.8.13.3; Byng 2:f.2r).
2) Sir George Scharf’s Sketch Books, 94:18, 27 October 1876, coll. Lord Churchill; Scharf’s drawing inscribed ‘same as Blenheim’.
3) The exceptional size, 174 x 146 (68½ x 57½), agreeing with Historical and Descriptive Catalogue of Pictures belonging to the Duke of Leeds, 1902, no.61.
4) Inscribed, top right: Sidney 1st Earl Godolphin, illus. E. S. Roscoe, Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, 1902, f.p.44 (and Emery Walker photograph on file); probably Historical and Descriptive Catalogue of Pictures belonging to the Duke of Leeds, 1902, no.91.
5) Notes on the exhibition, NPG archive.
6) See J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.303 (as after a portrait of c.1705).
7) H. Tait ed., The Art of the Jeweller, a Catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift to the British Museum, 1984, no.504; under the lid of a tortoiseshell box.
8) R. J. B. Walker, ‘Henry Bone’s Pencil Drawings in the National Portrait Gallery’, Wal. Soc., LXI, no.222.

Referenceback to top

Historical and Descriptive Catalogue of Pictures belonging to the Duke of Leeds, 1902.

Simon & Saywell (eds.) 2004
Complete Illustrated Catalogue, NPG, ed. J. Simon & D. Saywell, 2004, p 251.

Provenanceback to top

The sitter’s granddaughter Lady Mary Godolphin who married Thomas, 4th Duke of Leeds; by descent at Hornby Castle to the 10th Duke of Leeds Trust; private treaty sale through Michael Tollemache Ltd, 1984.

Exhibitionsback to top

Ministry of Works, Marlborough House, 1930–83, lent by the Duke of Leeds.<sup>1

1</sup> As Government Art Collection O/332/95.


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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