Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), Soldier and statesman
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Marlborough is extravagantly enshrined at Blenheim, where the palace, the statuary and the tapestries convey his achievements more vividly than his many, essentially indifferent, painted portraits.
Note: The few medallion portraits differ appreciably. The most impressive, the profile of 1704 attributed to Norbert Roettiers (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxx/9), varies from the profiles by Georg Hautsch of 1704 (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxix/9) and Georg Wilhelm Vestner of 1722 (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxlv/6), and similarly the bust by Hautsch of 1704 [1] (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxix/10; & cxxiii/8,9) differs considerably from that by Jean Dassier of the early 1730s (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxlv/7; W. Eisler, The Dassiers of Geneva: Jean Dassier, 2002, p 269, no.8, illus. pl.26).
c.1685-90
Painting by John Riley, see NPG 501.
Painting attributed to John Riley, three-quarter-length standing, left hand on hip, right arm on ledge; private collection (illus. M. Rogers, ‘John and John Baptist Closterman: a catalogue of their works’, Wal. Soc., XLIX, 1983, pl.46). A reversal of the pattern used for the portrait of George, Prince of Denmark, NPG 326.
Painting attributed to John Riley, three-quarter-length standing in red coat, plumed helmet on a table to the left, left hand on hip, right holding baton; the Garter badge and ribbon added; Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.554, pl.15). A close variant now at Blenheim. A bust-length copy listed at Burghley in error (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, under no.554).
Painting attributed to John Riley, three-quarter-length standing in armour, left hand on hip, baton in right hand, helmet on stone ledge to left; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 193 unattributed; illus. C. Hibbert, The Marlboroughs, 2001, f.p.170, pl.16 as c.1680). The pose comparable to the preceding portrait attributed to Riley. See NPG 501.
1690
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, half-length in armour with a red drape, with inscription dated 1690; Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.353, pl.12). The Garter ribbon appears to have been added and then partially removed (note in NPG archive). See NPG 553.
c.1690
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see under NPG 553.
c.1697
Painting by John Closterman with his family, whole-lengths; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, pp 13-14; M. Rogers, ‘John and John Baptist Closterman: a catalogue of their works’, Wal. Soc., XLIX, 1983, no.65, pl.48 as c.1697. Marlborough himself fits uncomfortably into the composition and his figure is painted on a separate piece of canvas; he does not seem to be approaching the age of fifty, Rogers suggesting it was taken from the c.1685-90 pattern attributed to Riley (cf NPG 515).
1698-99
Painting by John Verelst, half-length; Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.666).
1700
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see NPG 5470.
c.1700-05
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, three-quarter-length standing in armour; signed. Rychnov-nad-Kneznou Castle, Czech Republic (J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.463).
1703
Miniature by Christian Richter, bust-length oval to right, in armour with ermine-trimmed cloak and Garter ribbon, dated; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (NMB 2193; Illus. Cat. 2001, II, p 32).
c.1703
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, oval bust-length in armour with Garter ribbon, engraved J. Smith 1703 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 162; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.464).
1704
Unattributed painting, see NPG 1858.
1705
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, oval bust-length in armour with Garter collar, engraved J. Smith 1705 as G. Kneller pinx. 1705 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 163; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.465).
Painting by Adriaen van der Werff, standing three-quarter-length in armour with Garter, baton in right hand, signed and dated; Palazzo Pitti, Florence (76; B. Gaehtgens, Adriaen van der Werff, 1987, p 398, no.134); exhibited Firenze e l’Inghilterra 1971, no.37; engraved P. van Gunst and as a half-length oval by P. Schenck 1706 (F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch & Flemish Etchings Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, 777), and J. van Leeuw (F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch & Flemish Etchings Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, 2).
Edward Wright (Some Observations made in Travelling through France, Italy, &c. In the Years 1720, 1721, and 1722, 1730, II, p 401) noted two portraits of Marlborough in the Uffizi, untraced today.
c.1705-10
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, half-length, with Garter ribbon, velvet coat, holding baton; engraved J. Faber II 1735 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 208/between 5 & 6;) for the Kit-Cat series (D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 401; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.466) but it had left Tonson’s collection by 1735. A version belonged to Lord Churchill c.1930 (D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 401n3). Other versions, not by Kneller, in the Chelsea Royal Hospital, at Clytha House, and with D. Minlore in 1935. A version in armour, plumed helmet to the left, is at Helmingham.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, in armour with ermine-trimmed cloak and Garter ribbon, engraved, reversed, as bust-length by J. Houbraken 1745. The image relates to the seated Marlborough in the double portrait with Colonel Armstrong at Blenheim, see NPG 5318.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, in armour with Garter ribbon; untraced; engraved as bust-length oval by G. Valck (F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch & Flemish Etchings Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, 57) and E. C. Heiss (F. W. H. Hollstein, German Engravings Etchings Woodcuts 1450-1700, 26). This head resembles that in NPG 902.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length in armour with Garter ribbon and ermine-trimmed crimson cloak, baton held horizontally in right hand, left on plumed helmet, signed; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 80); engraved, three-quarter-length, R. Cooper 1823, J. Posselwhite 1845.
c.1705
Painting by John Closterman, whole-length mounted on a white horse attended by Fame and Victory; Chelsea Royal Hospital, transferred from the Drapers’ Company 1953 (M. Rogers, ‘John and John Baptist Closterman: a catalogue of their works’, Wal. Soc., XLIX, 1983, no.66, pl.65); engraved as a half-length oval, reversed, J. Simon 1705 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 93). A reduced replica at Madresfield Court.
Painting attributed to Dahl, three-quarter-length to right, in armour with ermine-trimmed cloak, Garter ribbon and lesser George, baton in right hand; Hudson Bay Co., London, from the Enville Hall sale, Christie’s, 15 June 1928, lot 40 (by descent from the Earls of Stamford to Sir John Foley Grey, 8th Bt.; illus. Connoisseur, XCIV, 1934, p 110); exhibited Marlborough and Anne 1934, no.70. Version sold Christie’s, 16 June 2000, lot 13; a half-length version, without cloak, with D. Minlore 1945. Marlborough was the third Governor of the Hudson Bay Company 1685-92.
Unattributed painting, half-length in armour with Garter ribbon and lesser George, ermine-trimmed cloak, left hand on hip. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.233 as James II attributed to Gennari), from Combe Abbey, Sotheby’s, 19 February 1969, lot 62 as Marlborough by Kneller. Apparently copied from an enamel by Charles Boit, now in the Gilbert collection, from Althorp (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, p 160, cat. pp 112-13, no.19a, pl.liv, fig.1; S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.3). Exhibited Liverpool 1958, no.2 as Marlborough by Boit. It relates to the c.1705 portrait attributed to Dahl.
Miniature attributed to Bernard Lens III, three-quarter-length in armour with Garter ribbon and ermine-trimmed robe, with his son-in-law, the 3rd Earl of Sunderland (1674-1722); Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 111; illus. The Times, 27 January 1934); exhibited Marlborough and Anne 1934, no.402.
c.1706
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see NPG 902.
1707
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length standing in Garter robes; Blenheim (J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.468). Considered by Vertue to be Kneller’s best picture of Marlborough (G. Vertue, Notebooks, Wal. Soc., XXIV, 1936, p 140). Copies are also at Blenheim; in the Royal Collection, possibly by Enoch Seeman (O. Millar, The Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1963, no.378) and a third by Isaac Whood dated 1734, formerly at Woburn, sold Sotheby’s, 7 June 2006, lot 129 (illus. G. Scharf, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures at Woburn Abbey, 1890, no.202); a three-quarter-length copy sold Christie’s South Kensington, 8 June 2000, lot 16.
c.1710-11
A large unfinished enamel by Charles Boit of Queen Anne with the Dukes of Marlborough and Ormonde et al., belonged to a Mr Peterson c.1726; see Queen Anne.
c.1710?
Miniature by Benjamin Arlaud, bust-length oval to right in armour with Garter ribbon; Duke of Buccleuch (illus. S. Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, 1996, no.62;). Another at Welbeck (illus. R. W. Goulding, ‘The Welbeck Abbey Miniatures’, Wal. Soc., IV, 1916, no.130, pl.xix).
c.1711-14
Marble bust by Michiel van der Voort, with wig, wearing loose drapery with knot on right shoulder; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 20 unattributed; M. I. Webb, Michael Rysbrack, 1954, p 38; M. Baker, Figured in Marble, The Making and Viewing of eighteenth-century Sculpture, 2000, p 139). Baker also lists a statue by van der Voort made for Lord Cadogan (M. Baker, Figured in Marble, The Making and Viewing of eighteenth-century Sculpture, 2000, p 140).
1712
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length standing in armour with Garter ribbon, left hand on hip, signed and dated; Althorp, from the collection of the Earl of Chichester (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.358, pl.13; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.469, pl.66d); painted for the Duke of Chandos after Marlborough’s dismissal, a circumstance reflected by the weeping Britannia and drooping eagle in the background (see J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, p 61). Bust-length derivation at Stratfield Saye and a three-quarter-length variant at Syon. Chandos recorded a copy being taken in 1711 for the Duke of Berwick (J. D. Stewart, ‘Marlborough and Kneller…’, National Gallery of Canada Bulletin, XVII, 1971, p 24).
1714
Miniature by Christian Richter, bust-length oval in armour with dark wig and ermine-trimmed red mantle, dated; exhibited Portrait Miniatures from The Clarke Collection, Scottish NPG, 2001, no.25 illus. Although described as dated 1714 the Duke appears appreciably younger than in the similarly dated Richter miniature in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (see below).
A bust-length enamel copy by Charles Boit is in the Gilbert collection, from Althorp (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 113, no.19b, pl.liii, fig.1; S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.65).
Miniature by Christian Richter, bust-length oval, in armour with powdered wig and blue drape, dated; Duke of Buccleuch (H. A. Kennedy, ‘Portrait Miniatures in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch’, Studio, special number, 1917, pl.lxi; W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 137, no.11; D. Foskett, A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters, 1972, II, pl.289, no.724). See above.
1715
Miniature by C. F. Zincke, bust-length oval in armour, dated; Cleveland Museum of Art (49.549; illus. Summary Cat. of European & American Painting, 1993, p 307). Another enamel by Zincke from Althorp is in the Gilbert Collection (S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.65, exhibited Liverpool 1958, no.62.
c.1720?
Painting by Enoch Seeman, see under NPG 5318.
before 1722
Lead statue attributed to Andries Carpentière, long hair, armour, baton in right hand, sword at side, with Garter ribbon; Christie’s, 5 December 1995, lot 79 (see I. Roscoe, Apollo, CXLI, 1995, p 39). The head resembles the bust by van der Voort at Blenheim (see c.1690 above).
Posthumous
c.1725?
Painting traditionally attributed to Enoch Seeman, whole-length, standing by his seated wife. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (illus. C. Hibbert, The Marlboroughs, 2001, f.p.74, pl.10). Possibly a made-up portrait painted for their daughter Mary who married John Montagu (later Duke of Montagu) in 1705; the Duke’s head appears to be taken from a Riley pattern of c.1685 (cf. NPG 501), and the Duchess’s from the Kneller pattern of c.1702, see NPG 3634.
1726?
Painting attributed to Kneller, whole-length in armour with Garter ribbon and golden sash, mounted on a white horse, attended by a black groom, tent to the left, inscribed The Duke of Marlborough 1726; Blenheim (illus. R. Innes-Smith, Marlborough, 1992, back cover). The horse may derive from that in the Gatschina Palace version of Kneller’s William III (J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, pl.53a).
1730
Lead statue by Robert Pit, all’antica, laureate, baton in left hand, a winged figure of victory in his raised right hand; placed on top of the Column of Victory in the grounds of Blenheim.
c.1730
Marble bust by J. M. Rysbrack, see under NPG 2005.
1732
Monument by J. M. Rysbrack, with his Duchess and two sons (John, 1686-1703, and Charles, 1690-92); Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 82; illus. M. Whinney, Sculpture in Britain 1530 to 1830, 1964, pl.70b; D. Bindman & M. Baker, Roubiliac and the eighteenth-century Monument, 1995, p 130).
c.1738
Marble bust by J. M. Rysbrack, with long wig, wearing armour, with Garter ribbon and drape; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 81; illus. W. S. Churchill, Marlborough and His Times, 1933, I, f.p.484). A reduced copy by John Henning junior is at Windsor.
Histories include:
Tapestries woven by Judocus de Vos c.1712-16 after L. de Hondt (presumably Lambert de Hondt II) of Marlborough’s Victories; Blenheim. Marlborough appears in nine: Donauworth 1704; Blenheim 1704; Forcing the Lines of Brabant 1705; Oudenarde 1708; Surrender of Lille 1708; Malplaquet 1709; and in the three of Bouchain 1711 (A. Wace, The Marlborough Tapestries at Blenheim Palace, 1968, pp 60-89, pls 40, 42, 43, 45, 47-51). Other sets were made for Lord Cobham at Stowe, General Lumley at Stanstead, Lord Cadogan at Caversham Park, General Webb, Lord Orkney at Cliveden, and the Duke of Argyll at Inverary (see M. Baker, Figured in Marble, The Making and Viewing of eighteenth-century Sculpture, 2000, p 140).
Decorative paintings by Louis Laguerre at Marlborough House, 1713 (episodes in the battles of Blenheim, Ramillies and Malplaquet; E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, I, Early Tudor to Sir James Thornhill, 1962, pp 252-53) and Blenheim c.1720 (Triumph of the Duke of Marlborough; E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, I, Early Tudor to Sir James Thornhill, 1962, pp 250-51).
Painting by Pieter van Bloemen, at Blenheim with Prince Eugene, signed and dated 1714; Government Art Collection (4983; illus. The Public Catalogue Foundation, Government Art Collection, 2007, p 32). A signed study for the mounted figure of Marlborough was declined by the NPG in 1858 (Sir George Scharf’s Trustees’ Sketch Books, 2:98).
Ceiling painting by James Thornhill at Blenheim, 1716, Glorification of the Duke of Marlborough (E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, I, Early Tudor to Sir James Thornhill, 1962, p 266).
Paintings by John Wootton: The Battle of Blenheim c.1740 (National Army Museum; illus. A. Meyer, John Wootton, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1984, no.43); The Siege of Tournay 1742 and The Siege of Lille 1742 (Royal Collection; O. Millar, The Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1963, nos. 551, 552).
A painted allegory by Donato Creti and Carlo Besoli was one of a series of ‘monuments’ to recent ‘British Worthies, who were bright and shining Ornaments, to their Country’, commissioned by Owen MacSwinny c.1725-29. Versions in the Pinacoteca, Bologna, and the Cassa di Risparmio, Bologna (E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, II, The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, 1970, p 240, no.6).
Doubtful Portraits
A so-called equestrian portrait by Kneller, engraved J. Smith 1689 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 227iii) with French titles, represents the third state of Smith’s plate of Kneller’s 1st Duke of Schomberg on a black horse (see J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.653, pl.36a; G. S. Layard, Catalogue raisonné of engraved British portraits from altered plates, 1927, no.99, pl.xxxvi).
Three-quarter-length standing in armour, left hand on hip, right holding baton, with Garter ribbon and sash (St Paul’s School, from Christie’s, 12 November 1948, lot 149). A half-length in ermine, baton in right hand with Garter collar and George, is in the Dulwich Picture Gallery (494; J. Ingamells, Dulwich Picture Gallery Collections, I, British, 2008, p 229).
Painting by Louis Coblitz, standing three-quarter-length in armour, baton in right hand; musée de Versailles (MV4319; Les Peintures, 1995, I, p 167), commissioned in 1845, erroneously described as ‘copie d’un tableau de l’atelier de G. Kneller conservé à Londres (National Portrait Gallery)’.
Untraced gouache miniature by Christian Richter, sold Christie’s, 7 July 1905 (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 145, no.19).
See Essex, 2nd Earl of, NPG 143
1) This resembles drawings dated 1705 by John Faber I in the Huntington Art Collections, San Marino CA (R. Wark, Early British Drawings in the Huntington Collection 1600-1750, 1969, p 16) and dated 1709 in the Ashmolean Museum (D. B. Brown, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings, IV, The Earlier British Drawings, 1982, no.122). A third drawing by Faber dated 1708 is in the Royal Collection (A. P. Oppé, English Drawings, Stuart and Georgian periods, in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, 1950, p 49, no.240).
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.
Note: The few medallion portraits differ appreciably. The most impressive, the profile of 1704 attributed to Norbert Roettiers (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxx/9), varies from the profiles by Georg Hautsch of 1704 (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxix/9) and Georg Wilhelm Vestner of 1722 (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxlv/6), and similarly the bust by Hautsch of 1704 [1] (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxix/10; & cxxiii/8,9) differs considerably from that by Jean Dassier of the early 1730s (Medallic Illustrations of The History of Great Britain and Ireland, British Museum, cxlv/7; W. Eisler, The Dassiers of Geneva: Jean Dassier, 2002, p 269, no.8, illus. pl.26).
c.1685-90
Painting by John Riley, see NPG 501.
Painting attributed to John Riley, three-quarter-length standing, left hand on hip, right arm on ledge; private collection (illus. M. Rogers, ‘John and John Baptist Closterman: a catalogue of their works’, Wal. Soc., XLIX, 1983, pl.46). A reversal of the pattern used for the portrait of George, Prince of Denmark, NPG 326.
Painting attributed to John Riley, three-quarter-length standing in red coat, plumed helmet on a table to the left, left hand on hip, right holding baton; the Garter badge and ribbon added; Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.554, pl.15). A close variant now at Blenheim. A bust-length copy listed at Burghley in error (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, under no.554).
Painting attributed to John Riley, three-quarter-length standing in armour, left hand on hip, baton in right hand, helmet on stone ledge to left; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 193 unattributed; illus. C. Hibbert, The Marlboroughs, 2001, f.p.170, pl.16 as c.1680). The pose comparable to the preceding portrait attributed to Riley. See NPG 501.
1690
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, half-length in armour with a red drape, with inscription dated 1690; Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.353, pl.12). The Garter ribbon appears to have been added and then partially removed (note in NPG archive). See NPG 553.
c.1690
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see under NPG 553.
c.1697
Painting by John Closterman with his family, whole-lengths; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, pp 13-14; M. Rogers, ‘John and John Baptist Closterman: a catalogue of their works’, Wal. Soc., XLIX, 1983, no.65, pl.48 as c.1697. Marlborough himself fits uncomfortably into the composition and his figure is painted on a separate piece of canvas; he does not seem to be approaching the age of fifty, Rogers suggesting it was taken from the c.1685-90 pattern attributed to Riley (cf NPG 515).
1698-99
Painting by John Verelst, half-length; Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.666).
1700
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see NPG 5470.
c.1700-05
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, three-quarter-length standing in armour; signed. Rychnov-nad-Kneznou Castle, Czech Republic (J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.463).
1703
Miniature by Christian Richter, bust-length oval to right, in armour with ermine-trimmed cloak and Garter ribbon, dated; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (NMB 2193; Illus. Cat. 2001, II, p 32).
c.1703
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, oval bust-length in armour with Garter ribbon, engraved J. Smith 1703 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 162; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.464).
1704
Unattributed painting, see NPG 1858.
1705
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, oval bust-length in armour with Garter collar, engraved J. Smith 1705 as G. Kneller pinx. 1705 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 163; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.465).
Painting by Adriaen van der Werff, standing three-quarter-length in armour with Garter, baton in right hand, signed and dated; Palazzo Pitti, Florence (76; B. Gaehtgens, Adriaen van der Werff, 1987, p 398, no.134); exhibited Firenze e l’Inghilterra 1971, no.37; engraved P. van Gunst and as a half-length oval by P. Schenck 1706 (F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch & Flemish Etchings Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, 777), and J. van Leeuw (F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch & Flemish Etchings Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, 2).
Edward Wright (Some Observations made in Travelling through France, Italy, &c. In the Years 1720, 1721, and 1722, 1730, II, p 401) noted two portraits of Marlborough in the Uffizi, untraced today.
c.1705-10
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, half-length, with Garter ribbon, velvet coat, holding baton; engraved J. Faber II 1735 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 208/between 5 & 6;) for the Kit-Cat series (D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 401; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.466) but it had left Tonson’s collection by 1735. A version belonged to Lord Churchill c.1930 (D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 401n3). Other versions, not by Kneller, in the Chelsea Royal Hospital, at Clytha House, and with D. Minlore in 1935. A version in armour, plumed helmet to the left, is at Helmingham.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, in armour with ermine-trimmed cloak and Garter ribbon, engraved, reversed, as bust-length by J. Houbraken 1745. The image relates to the seated Marlborough in the double portrait with Colonel Armstrong at Blenheim, see NPG 5318.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, in armour with Garter ribbon; untraced; engraved as bust-length oval by G. Valck (F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch & Flemish Etchings Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, 57) and E. C. Heiss (F. W. H. Hollstein, German Engravings Etchings Woodcuts 1450-1700, 26). This head resembles that in NPG 902.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length in armour with Garter ribbon and ermine-trimmed crimson cloak, baton held horizontally in right hand, left on plumed helmet, signed; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 80); engraved, three-quarter-length, R. Cooper 1823, J. Posselwhite 1845.
c.1705
Painting by John Closterman, whole-length mounted on a white horse attended by Fame and Victory; Chelsea Royal Hospital, transferred from the Drapers’ Company 1953 (M. Rogers, ‘John and John Baptist Closterman: a catalogue of their works’, Wal. Soc., XLIX, 1983, no.66, pl.65); engraved as a half-length oval, reversed, J. Simon 1705 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 93). A reduced replica at Madresfield Court.
Painting attributed to Dahl, three-quarter-length to right, in armour with ermine-trimmed cloak, Garter ribbon and lesser George, baton in right hand; Hudson Bay Co., London, from the Enville Hall sale, Christie’s, 15 June 1928, lot 40 (by descent from the Earls of Stamford to Sir John Foley Grey, 8th Bt.; illus. Connoisseur, XCIV, 1934, p 110); exhibited Marlborough and Anne 1934, no.70. Version sold Christie’s, 16 June 2000, lot 13; a half-length version, without cloak, with D. Minlore 1945. Marlborough was the third Governor of the Hudson Bay Company 1685-92.
Unattributed painting, half-length in armour with Garter ribbon and lesser George, ermine-trimmed cloak, left hand on hip. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.233 as James II attributed to Gennari), from Combe Abbey, Sotheby’s, 19 February 1969, lot 62 as Marlborough by Kneller. Apparently copied from an enamel by Charles Boit, now in the Gilbert collection, from Althorp (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, p 160, cat. pp 112-13, no.19a, pl.liv, fig.1; S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.3). Exhibited Liverpool 1958, no.2 as Marlborough by Boit. It relates to the c.1705 portrait attributed to Dahl.
Miniature attributed to Bernard Lens III, three-quarter-length in armour with Garter ribbon and ermine-trimmed robe, with his son-in-law, the 3rd Earl of Sunderland (1674-1722); Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 111; illus. The Times, 27 January 1934); exhibited Marlborough and Anne 1934, no.402.
c.1706
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see NPG 902.
1707
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length standing in Garter robes; Blenheim (J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.468). Considered by Vertue to be Kneller’s best picture of Marlborough (G. Vertue, Notebooks, Wal. Soc., XXIV, 1936, p 140). Copies are also at Blenheim; in the Royal Collection, possibly by Enoch Seeman (O. Millar, The Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1963, no.378) and a third by Isaac Whood dated 1734, formerly at Woburn, sold Sotheby’s, 7 June 2006, lot 129 (illus. G. Scharf, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures at Woburn Abbey, 1890, no.202); a three-quarter-length copy sold Christie’s South Kensington, 8 June 2000, lot 16.
c.1710-11
A large unfinished enamel by Charles Boit of Queen Anne with the Dukes of Marlborough and Ormonde et al., belonged to a Mr Peterson c.1726; see Queen Anne.
c.1710?
Miniature by Benjamin Arlaud, bust-length oval to right in armour with Garter ribbon; Duke of Buccleuch (illus. S. Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, 1996, no.62;). Another at Welbeck (illus. R. W. Goulding, ‘The Welbeck Abbey Miniatures’, Wal. Soc., IV, 1916, no.130, pl.xix).
c.1711-14
Marble bust by Michiel van der Voort, with wig, wearing loose drapery with knot on right shoulder; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 20 unattributed; M. I. Webb, Michael Rysbrack, 1954, p 38; M. Baker, Figured in Marble, The Making and Viewing of eighteenth-century Sculpture, 2000, p 139). Baker also lists a statue by van der Voort made for Lord Cadogan (M. Baker, Figured in Marble, The Making and Viewing of eighteenth-century Sculpture, 2000, p 140).
1712
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length standing in armour with Garter ribbon, left hand on hip, signed and dated; Althorp, from the collection of the Earl of Chichester (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.358, pl.13; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.469, pl.66d); painted for the Duke of Chandos after Marlborough’s dismissal, a circumstance reflected by the weeping Britannia and drooping eagle in the background (see J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, p 61). Bust-length derivation at Stratfield Saye and a three-quarter-length variant at Syon. Chandos recorded a copy being taken in 1711 for the Duke of Berwick (J. D. Stewart, ‘Marlborough and Kneller…’, National Gallery of Canada Bulletin, XVII, 1971, p 24).
1714
Miniature by Christian Richter, bust-length oval in armour with dark wig and ermine-trimmed red mantle, dated; exhibited Portrait Miniatures from The Clarke Collection, Scottish NPG, 2001, no.25 illus. Although described as dated 1714 the Duke appears appreciably younger than in the similarly dated Richter miniature in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (see below).
A bust-length enamel copy by Charles Boit is in the Gilbert collection, from Althorp (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 113, no.19b, pl.liii, fig.1; S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.65).
Miniature by Christian Richter, bust-length oval, in armour with powdered wig and blue drape, dated; Duke of Buccleuch (H. A. Kennedy, ‘Portrait Miniatures in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch’, Studio, special number, 1917, pl.lxi; W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 137, no.11; D. Foskett, A Dictionary of British Miniature Painters, 1972, II, pl.289, no.724). See above.
1715
Miniature by C. F. Zincke, bust-length oval in armour, dated; Cleveland Museum of Art (49.549; illus. Summary Cat. of European & American Painting, 1993, p 307). Another enamel by Zincke from Althorp is in the Gilbert Collection (S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.65, exhibited Liverpool 1958, no.62.
c.1720?
Painting by Enoch Seeman, see under NPG 5318.
before 1722
Lead statue attributed to Andries Carpentière, long hair, armour, baton in right hand, sword at side, with Garter ribbon; Christie’s, 5 December 1995, lot 79 (see I. Roscoe, Apollo, CXLI, 1995, p 39). The head resembles the bust by van der Voort at Blenheim (see c.1690 above).
Posthumous
c.1725?
Painting traditionally attributed to Enoch Seeman, whole-length, standing by his seated wife. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (illus. C. Hibbert, The Marlboroughs, 2001, f.p.74, pl.10). Possibly a made-up portrait painted for their daughter Mary who married John Montagu (later Duke of Montagu) in 1705; the Duke’s head appears to be taken from a Riley pattern of c.1685 (cf. NPG 501), and the Duchess’s from the Kneller pattern of c.1702, see NPG 3634.
1726?
Painting attributed to Kneller, whole-length in armour with Garter ribbon and golden sash, mounted on a white horse, attended by a black groom, tent to the left, inscribed The Duke of Marlborough 1726; Blenheim (illus. R. Innes-Smith, Marlborough, 1992, back cover). The horse may derive from that in the Gatschina Palace version of Kneller’s William III (J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, pl.53a).
1730
Lead statue by Robert Pit, all’antica, laureate, baton in left hand, a winged figure of victory in his raised right hand; placed on top of the Column of Victory in the grounds of Blenheim.
c.1730
Marble bust by J. M. Rysbrack, see under NPG 2005.
1732
Monument by J. M. Rysbrack, with his Duchess and two sons (John, 1686-1703, and Charles, 1690-92); Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 82; illus. M. Whinney, Sculpture in Britain 1530 to 1830, 1964, pl.70b; D. Bindman & M. Baker, Roubiliac and the eighteenth-century Monument, 1995, p 130).
c.1738
Marble bust by J. M. Rysbrack, with long wig, wearing armour, with Garter ribbon and drape; Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 81; illus. W. S. Churchill, Marlborough and His Times, 1933, I, f.p.484). A reduced copy by John Henning junior is at Windsor.
Histories include:
Tapestries woven by Judocus de Vos c.1712-16 after L. de Hondt (presumably Lambert de Hondt II) of Marlborough’s Victories; Blenheim. Marlborough appears in nine: Donauworth 1704; Blenheim 1704; Forcing the Lines of Brabant 1705; Oudenarde 1708; Surrender of Lille 1708; Malplaquet 1709; and in the three of Bouchain 1711 (A. Wace, The Marlborough Tapestries at Blenheim Palace, 1968, pp 60-89, pls 40, 42, 43, 45, 47-51). Other sets were made for Lord Cobham at Stowe, General Lumley at Stanstead, Lord Cadogan at Caversham Park, General Webb, Lord Orkney at Cliveden, and the Duke of Argyll at Inverary (see M. Baker, Figured in Marble, The Making and Viewing of eighteenth-century Sculpture, 2000, p 140).
Decorative paintings by Louis Laguerre at Marlborough House, 1713 (episodes in the battles of Blenheim, Ramillies and Malplaquet; E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, I, Early Tudor to Sir James Thornhill, 1962, pp 252-53) and Blenheim c.1720 (Triumph of the Duke of Marlborough; E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, I, Early Tudor to Sir James Thornhill, 1962, pp 250-51).
Painting by Pieter van Bloemen, at Blenheim with Prince Eugene, signed and dated 1714; Government Art Collection (4983; illus. The Public Catalogue Foundation, Government Art Collection, 2007, p 32). A signed study for the mounted figure of Marlborough was declined by the NPG in 1858 (Sir George Scharf’s Trustees’ Sketch Books, 2:98).
Ceiling painting by James Thornhill at Blenheim, 1716, Glorification of the Duke of Marlborough (E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, I, Early Tudor to Sir James Thornhill, 1962, p 266).
Paintings by John Wootton: The Battle of Blenheim c.1740 (National Army Museum; illus. A. Meyer, John Wootton, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1984, no.43); The Siege of Tournay 1742 and The Siege of Lille 1742 (Royal Collection; O. Millar, The Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1963, nos. 551, 552).
A painted allegory by Donato Creti and Carlo Besoli was one of a series of ‘monuments’ to recent ‘British Worthies, who were bright and shining Ornaments, to their Country’, commissioned by Owen MacSwinny c.1725-29. Versions in the Pinacoteca, Bologna, and the Cassa di Risparmio, Bologna (E. Croft-Murray, Decorative Painting in England, II, The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, 1970, p 240, no.6).
Doubtful Portraits
A so-called equestrian portrait by Kneller, engraved J. Smith 1689 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 227iii) with French titles, represents the third state of Smith’s plate of Kneller’s 1st Duke of Schomberg on a black horse (see J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.653, pl.36a; G. S. Layard, Catalogue raisonné of engraved British portraits from altered plates, 1927, no.99, pl.xxxvi).
Three-quarter-length standing in armour, left hand on hip, right holding baton, with Garter ribbon and sash (St Paul’s School, from Christie’s, 12 November 1948, lot 149). A half-length in ermine, baton in right hand with Garter collar and George, is in the Dulwich Picture Gallery (494; J. Ingamells, Dulwich Picture Gallery Collections, I, British, 2008, p 229).
Painting by Louis Coblitz, standing three-quarter-length in armour, baton in right hand; musée de Versailles (MV4319; Les Peintures, 1995, I, p 167), commissioned in 1845, erroneously described as ‘copie d’un tableau de l’atelier de G. Kneller conservé à Londres (National Portrait Gallery)’.
Untraced gouache miniature by Christian Richter, sold Christie’s, 7 July 1905 (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 145, no.19).
See Essex, 2nd Earl of, NPG 143
1) This resembles drawings dated 1705 by John Faber I in the Huntington Art Collections, San Marino CA (R. Wark, Early British Drawings in the Huntington Collection 1600-1750, 1969, p 16) and dated 1709 in the Ashmolean Museum (D. B. Brown, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings, IV, The Earlier British Drawings, 1982, no.122). A third drawing by Faber dated 1708 is in the Royal Collection (A. P. Oppé, English Drawings, Stuart and Georgian periods, in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, 1950, p 49, no.240).
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.