Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon
24 of 43 portraits matching these criteria:
- set matching 'The Kit-cat Club portraits: by Sir Godfrey Kneller'
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon
by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt
oil on canvas, circa 1710
36 in. x 28 in. (914 mm x 711 mm)
Given by the Art Fund, 1945
Primary Collection
NPG 3235
On display in Room 8 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery
Artistback to top
- Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt (1646-1723), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 1689 portraits, Sitter associated with 30 portraits.
This portraitback to top
This unfinished Kit-Cat Club portrait provides a rare insight into the working methods of the early eighteenth century's leading portraitist. First the canvas was nailed onto its stretcher and primed with a standard grey-green 'ground'. Kneller then painted in the face, probably while the sitter was present. After sketching a few details to indicate wig, pose and hand, Kneller passed the canvas to his team of assistants who each specialised in one aspect of the composition from costume, to props and backgrounds.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Ingamells, John, Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, 2009, p. 250
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 558
- Simon, Robin, The portrait in Britain and America : with a biographical dictionary of portrait painters, 1680-1914, 1987, p. [33] plate 1
Portrait setback to top
Events of 1710back to top
Current affairs
Clergyman Henry Sacheverell is impeached on account of his sermons in which he attacks the Whig government and the revolution settlement of 1688-9. The trial caused rioting, and revived Jacobites sentiments and resentment against the government.Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, returns to Parliament as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Art and science
The Examiner, a Tory government propaganda journal devised by Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford and Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, is published. Under its editor, Jonathan Swift, the weekly sheet defended the policies of the new Tory government. The Whigs responded with The Medley, principally written by Arthur Maynwaring.International
Following the victories at the Battles of Almenara and Saragossa in the War of the Spanish Succession, the allied forces experience a set back at the Battle of Brihuega during which, James Stanhope, Earl of Stanhope, Commander in Chief of the British Forces in Spain, is taken prisoner.Comments back to top
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