Mary Knight
2 of 4 portraits of Mary Knight
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Mary Knight
by John Faber Jr, after Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt
mezzotint, 1749
13 7/8 in. x 9 7/8 in. (353 mm x 251 mm) plate size; 15 1/8 in. x 11 1/8 in. (385 mm x 282 mm) paper size
Acquired, 1908
Reference Collection
NPG D37108
Sitterback to top
- Mary Knight (baptised 1631-in or after 1698), Singer and favourite of Charles II. Sitter in 4 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- John Faber Jr (circa 1695-1756), Engraver and portrait and miniature painter. Artist or producer associated with 818 portraits.
- Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt (1646-1723), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 1689 portraits, Sitter associated with 30 portraits.
Related worksback to top
- NPG D3442: Mary Knight (from same plate)
- NPG D19887: Mary Knight (from same plate)
- NPG D30630: Mary Knight (from same plate)
Events of 1749back to top
Current affairs
Royal Fireworks in Green Park to celebrate the Peace of Aix-La-Chapelle. 10,000 rockets are let off at a cost of £8,000. Composer George Frideric Handel's accompanying Music for the Royal Fireworks is performed for the first time.George II is introduced to William Ansah Sessarakoo the 'Prince of Annamaboe'. The son of a wealthy chief from the West African Gold Coast, he had been taken prisoner and made a slave in the West Indies.
Art and science
Horace Walpole buys the house and grounds which he will transform into his neo-Gothic fantasy, Strawberry Hill, in Twickenham, London.Henry Fielding publishes his comic novel Tom Jones.
John Cleland's erotic novel Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) is published. The author is released from debtor's prison but arrested again later in the year and charged with corrupting the King's subjects.
International
George II grants a charter to Ohio Company to settle Ohio valley in the American colonies.British settlement of Halifax, Nova Scotia is founded.
Sugar planters found Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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