Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue
Sarah Churchill (née Jenyns (Jennings)), Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744), Courtier
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Sarah’s iconography is not straightforward. While some familiar images now seem dubious, there has also been confusion with portraits of her daughters: Henrietta, 1681-1733, 2nd Duchess of Marlborough in her own right, who married the 2nd Earl of Godolphin; Anne, 1683-1716, who married the 3rd Earl of Sunderland; and Mary, 1689-1751, who married the 2nd Duke of Montagu.
1691
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, three-quarter-length, with Viscountess Fitzhardinge (Barbara Villiers, 1656-1708) playing cards, signed and dated. Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 131; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.471). Versions of Sarah alone (sometimes holding a letter instead of cards) include those sold Christie’s, 22 December 1949, lot 49; 30 July 1982, lot 16, and Christie’s NY, 4 November 1986, lot 185.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, bust-length painted oval, with blue wrap over a white shift. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.348, pl.12; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.470, pl.54b). Probably painted for Princess Anne in 1691 and returned after Sarah’s quarrel with the Queen.
A similar portrait at Blenheim.
The many versions include those in Plymouth Art Gallery (lent by Sir John Carew-Pole 1947) and with W. H. Robertson-Aikman 1959; others sold Sotheby’s, 17 February 1956, lot 41; and 24 February 1965, lot 35; Christie’s, 3 November 1972, lot 219; Sotheby’s, 27 May 1981, lot 282; Christie’s Amsterdam, 10 November 1997, lot 155; Sotheby’s, 22 March 2004, lot 39, and Sotheby’s NY, 28 January 2005, lot 735.
1693
Painting by John Closterman with the Duke and their four daughters and son, see Duke of Marlborough.
c.1700?
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, bust-length oval as Minerva, wearing a classical golden breastplate. Blenheim. Listed by Scharf (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 26) as of square proportion, but now framed as an oval.
Painting attributed to Michael Dahl, half-length painted oval, holding a wrap at her waist with her right hand. The tilt of the head is characteristic of Kneller. Lochinch Castle.
c.1702
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see NPG 3634.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length to right in ermine robes, standing by a table with her coronet on a dark blue cloth; wearing the golden key of the keeper of the privy purse. Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 180).
1705
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length seated in ermine robes, wearing the golden key of the keeper of the privy purse, pointing right, signed and dated. Woburn (G. Scharf, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures at Woburn Abbey, 1890, no.204; illus. A. M. Tavistock & E. M. S. Russell, Biographical Catalogue of the Pictures at Woburn Abbey, 1890, II, ii, f.p.242; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.472). Engraved J. Smith 1705, reversed bust-length oval, as G. Kneller … pinx. 1705 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 165). A 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 211; 1897.8.13.3; Byng 2; f.31r).
A three-quarter-length at Petworth (cat. 1920, p 67, no.197) is also signed and dated 1705 (J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.473) with a second signed whole-length (Petworth; cat. 1920, p 69, no.523); another three-quarter-length is in the Museum of Art, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and a third was sold Sotheby’s, 4 November 1958, lot 89. A reversed bust-length copy is in the Bristol Art Gallery (K1807).
Related bust-length oval miniatures by Charles Boit include those in the Gilbert collection, from Althorp (possibly W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 113, no.20a; S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.67); in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (possibly W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 13, no.20b; H. A. Kennedy, ‘Portrait Miniatures in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch’, Studio, special number, 1917, pl.lix), and sold Phillips 12 July 1999, lot 207, and Christie’s, 24 May 2000, lot 104.
Nisser listed six other unidentified enamels by Boit (cat. p 113, no.20c, p 126, nos 30a-e).
1708
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, three-quarter-length seated, coronet to right, her head on right hand, signed and dated. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.339; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.474). A copy by Edward Byng in the British Museum (E. Croft-Murray & P. Hulton, British Museum, Catalogue of British Drawings: XVI and XVII centuries, 1960, p 240; 1897.8.13; Byng 6:f.38r). Engraved, reversed, J. Simon (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 96). Variants with a lighter dress and the right hand at her breast sold Christie’s, 15 May 1953, lot 131, and the Portarlington sale, Christie’s, 23 January 1976, lot 73. A 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 234; 1897.8.13.6; Byng 5:f.f.82r inserted). A second variant without the coronet and with the right hand holding drapery across her body, left hand hanging over table edge, sold Christie’s, 23 March 1997, lot 134.
1711
Enamel by C. F. Zincke, bust-length oval with a blue dress with white frilled collar, signed and dated. The Royal Collection (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, 1992, no.67; Masterpieces in Little, Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, exhibition catalogue, New York, San Marino, Richmond, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996-97, no.46). The head based on the Kneller pattern of 1691. Walker lists versions formerly at Stowe and, wearing pink, at Blenheim, the latter probably by Boit.
1720
Miniature by Christian Richter, inscribed and dated. Duke of Buccleuch (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 137, no.12). A second miniature by Richter dated 1720 in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (NMB 750; Illus. Cat. 2001, II, p 31) has been identified as the Duchess after Dahl and possibly the pendant to Richter’s portrait of the Duke of Marlborough dated 1703 also in the Nationalmuseum. W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 145, no.19, listed a damaged miniature by Richter after Dahl, sold Bukowski, Stockholm, 31 April 1917, lot 443.
Miniature by Bernard Lens III, whole-length standing, head on left hand, a locket at her wrist with a head of the Duke, dated and inscribed advivum, but looking remarkably young. Victoria and Albert Museum (627-1882; illus. K. Coombs, The Portrait Miniature in England, 1998, p 79).
c.1722
Painting by Maria Verelst, three-quarter-length seated in mourning, view of a palace to left. Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 46 as by Kneller). Engraved S. Freeman 1826 (as from the Lely at Blenheim); a copy by William Derby 1823 in the Wallace Collection (P713). Versions formerly at Middleton Park; and sold Sotheby’s, 23 March 1977, lot 662, and 2 March 1983, lot 33 illus.
A version at Clytha House is extended to include a girl offering a basket of fruit, probably Diana, Sarah’s favourite granddaughter (of whom there is a matching three-quarter-length at Blenheim; illus. H. Montgomery-Massingberd, Blenheim Revisited, 1985, p 62).
A stock Maria Verelst pattern, otherwise seen at Mellerstain (Lady Grisell Baillie 1725; illus. E. K. Waterhouse, The Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters in oils and crayons, 1981, p 394); an elderly lady sold Phillips, 27 April 1993, lot 69; and a young lady sold Christie’s NY, 20 October 2000, lot 30 (with a landscape seen through an arch on the left).
Bust-length oval enamel version by C. F. Zincke in the Gilbert collection, from Althorp (S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.66); exhibited Liverpool 1958, no.63. Another sold Sotheby’s, 19 March 1947, lot 139. Coffin & Hofstetter record a version set in a box sold Phillips, 9 November 1987, lot 13, and another sold Hotel Drouot, 22 February 1988, lot 49; one set in a gold box is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (illus. K. Coombs, The Portrait Miniature in England, 1998, p 78).
c.1725?
Painting attributed to Jervas, whole-length standing with a deep red fur-trimmed gown, her right hand on her left wrist resting on a pedestal bearing her arms (as seen added to the portrait by Maria Verelst of c.1722). Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 80 as by Kneller). A replica with the Duke of Buccleuch, inscribed with identity, first recorded in 1732 (Dalkeith cat., 1911, no.149). Vanderbank used a similar pose in reverse for Georgina Cartaret, wife of the Hon. John Spencer, in 1737 (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.650, pl.16).
Painting traditionally attributed to Enoch Seeman, whole-length, with her husband, see Duke of Marlborough.
1732
Monument by J. M. Rysbrack, see Duke of Marlborough.
A wax medallion was in the Harcourt sale, Sotheby’s, 10 June 1993, lot 242 (and see E. J. Pyke, A Biographical Dictionary of Wax Modellers, 1973).
Doubtful Portraits
Miniature by Peter Cross c.1676, bust-length oval in blue dress. Duke of Buccleuch (illus. S. Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, 1996, no.60, pl.17).
Painting attributed to Simon Verelst c.1678, half-length holding a vase of flowers. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.667; illus. W. S. Churchill, Marlborough and His Times, 1933, I, p 118).
Painting by Godfrey Kneller c.1700, bust-length sketch, with short hair. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.355; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.475 as probably showing her daughter, Henrietta Churchill; illus. C. Hibbert, The Marlboroughs, 2001, f.p.138, pl.19, or cf. Kneller’s portrait of Anne Churchill, illus. H. Montgomery-Massingberd, Blenheim Revisited, 1985, p 31).
Painting by Michael Dahl c.1702?, half-length oval, in déshabille, her hair over her left shoulder. Althorp (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 67, no.95b; (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.351, pl.12 as Kneller, but see J. D. Stewart, Burlington Magazine, CXX, 1978, p 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.
1691
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, three-quarter-length, with Viscountess Fitzhardinge (Barbara Villiers, 1656-1708) playing cards, signed and dated. Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 131; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.471). Versions of Sarah alone (sometimes holding a letter instead of cards) include those sold Christie’s, 22 December 1949, lot 49; 30 July 1982, lot 16, and Christie’s NY, 4 November 1986, lot 185.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, bust-length painted oval, with blue wrap over a white shift. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.348, pl.12; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.470, pl.54b). Probably painted for Princess Anne in 1691 and returned after Sarah’s quarrel with the Queen.
A similar portrait at Blenheim.
The many versions include those in Plymouth Art Gallery (lent by Sir John Carew-Pole 1947) and with W. H. Robertson-Aikman 1959; others sold Sotheby’s, 17 February 1956, lot 41; and 24 February 1965, lot 35; Christie’s, 3 November 1972, lot 219; Sotheby’s, 27 May 1981, lot 282; Christie’s Amsterdam, 10 November 1997, lot 155; Sotheby’s, 22 March 2004, lot 39, and Sotheby’s NY, 28 January 2005, lot 735.
1693
Painting by John Closterman with the Duke and their four daughters and son, see Duke of Marlborough.
c.1700?
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, bust-length oval as Minerva, wearing a classical golden breastplate. Blenheim. Listed by Scharf (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 26) as of square proportion, but now framed as an oval.
Painting attributed to Michael Dahl, half-length painted oval, holding a wrap at her waist with her right hand. The tilt of the head is characteristic of Kneller. Lochinch Castle.
c.1702
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see NPG 3634.
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length to right in ermine robes, standing by a table with her coronet on a dark blue cloth; wearing the golden key of the keeper of the privy purse. Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 180).
1705
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, whole-length seated in ermine robes, wearing the golden key of the keeper of the privy purse, pointing right, signed and dated. Woburn (G. Scharf, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures at Woburn Abbey, 1890, no.204; illus. A. M. Tavistock & E. M. S. Russell, Biographical Catalogue of the Pictures at Woburn Abbey, 1890, II, ii, f.p.242; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.472). Engraved J. Smith 1705, reversed bust-length oval, as G. Kneller … pinx. 1705 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 165). A 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 211; 1897.8.13.3; Byng 2; f.31r).
A three-quarter-length at Petworth (cat. 1920, p 67, no.197) is also signed and dated 1705 (J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.473) with a second signed whole-length (Petworth; cat. 1920, p 69, no.523); another three-quarter-length is in the Museum of Art, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and a third was sold Sotheby’s, 4 November 1958, lot 89. A reversed bust-length copy is in the Bristol Art Gallery (K1807).
Related bust-length oval miniatures by Charles Boit include those in the Gilbert collection, from Althorp (possibly W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 113, no.20a; S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.67); in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch (possibly W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 13, no.20b; H. A. Kennedy, ‘Portrait Miniatures in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch’, Studio, special number, 1917, pl.lix), and sold Phillips 12 July 1999, lot 207, and Christie’s, 24 May 2000, lot 104.
Nisser listed six other unidentified enamels by Boit (cat. p 113, no.20c, p 126, nos 30a-e).
1708
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, three-quarter-length seated, coronet to right, her head on right hand, signed and dated. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.339; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.474). A copy by Edward Byng in the British Museum (E. Croft-Murray & P. Hulton, British Museum, Catalogue of British Drawings: XVI and XVII centuries, 1960, p 240; 1897.8.13; Byng 6:f.38r). Engraved, reversed, J. Simon (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 96). Variants with a lighter dress and the right hand at her breast sold Christie’s, 15 May 1953, lot 131, and the Portarlington sale, Christie’s, 23 January 1976, lot 73. A 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 234; 1897.8.13.6; Byng 5:f.f.82r inserted). A second variant without the coronet and with the right hand holding drapery across her body, left hand hanging over table edge, sold Christie’s, 23 March 1997, lot 134.
1711
Enamel by C. F. Zincke, bust-length oval with a blue dress with white frilled collar, signed and dated. The Royal Collection (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, 1992, no.67; Masterpieces in Little, Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, exhibition catalogue, New York, San Marino, Richmond, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996-97, no.46). The head based on the Kneller pattern of 1691. Walker lists versions formerly at Stowe and, wearing pink, at Blenheim, the latter probably by Boit.
1720
Miniature by Christian Richter, inscribed and dated. Duke of Buccleuch (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 137, no.12). A second miniature by Richter dated 1720 in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (NMB 750; Illus. Cat. 2001, II, p 31) has been identified as the Duchess after Dahl and possibly the pendant to Richter’s portrait of the Duke of Marlborough dated 1703 also in the Nationalmuseum. W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 145, no.19, listed a damaged miniature by Richter after Dahl, sold Bukowski, Stockholm, 31 April 1917, lot 443.
Miniature by Bernard Lens III, whole-length standing, head on left hand, a locket at her wrist with a head of the Duke, dated and inscribed advivum, but looking remarkably young. Victoria and Albert Museum (627-1882; illus. K. Coombs, The Portrait Miniature in England, 1998, p 79).
c.1722
Painting by Maria Verelst, three-quarter-length seated in mourning, view of a palace to left. Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 46 as by Kneller). Engraved S. Freeman 1826 (as from the Lely at Blenheim); a copy by William Derby 1823 in the Wallace Collection (P713). Versions formerly at Middleton Park; and sold Sotheby’s, 23 March 1977, lot 662, and 2 March 1983, lot 33 illus.
A version at Clytha House is extended to include a girl offering a basket of fruit, probably Diana, Sarah’s favourite granddaughter (of whom there is a matching three-quarter-length at Blenheim; illus. H. Montgomery-Massingberd, Blenheim Revisited, 1985, p 62).
A stock Maria Verelst pattern, otherwise seen at Mellerstain (Lady Grisell Baillie 1725; illus. E. K. Waterhouse, The Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters in oils and crayons, 1981, p 394); an elderly lady sold Phillips, 27 April 1993, lot 69; and a young lady sold Christie’s NY, 20 October 2000, lot 30 (with a landscape seen through an arch on the left).
Bust-length oval enamel version by C. F. Zincke in the Gilbert collection, from Althorp (S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.66); exhibited Liverpool 1958, no.63. Another sold Sotheby’s, 19 March 1947, lot 139. Coffin & Hofstetter record a version set in a box sold Phillips, 9 November 1987, lot 13, and another sold Hotel Drouot, 22 February 1988, lot 49; one set in a gold box is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (illus. K. Coombs, The Portrait Miniature in England, 1998, p 78).
c.1725?
Painting attributed to Jervas, whole-length standing with a deep red fur-trimmed gown, her right hand on her left wrist resting on a pedestal bearing her arms (as seen added to the portrait by Maria Verelst of c.1722). Blenheim (G. Scharf, Catalogue raisonné; or, A List of the Pictures in Blenheim Palace, 1862, p 80 as by Kneller). A replica with the Duke of Buccleuch, inscribed with identity, first recorded in 1732 (Dalkeith cat., 1911, no.149). Vanderbank used a similar pose in reverse for Georgina Cartaret, wife of the Hon. John Spencer, in 1737 (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.650, pl.16).
Painting traditionally attributed to Enoch Seeman, whole-length, with her husband, see Duke of Marlborough.
1732
Monument by J. M. Rysbrack, see Duke of Marlborough.
A wax medallion was in the Harcourt sale, Sotheby’s, 10 June 1993, lot 242 (and see E. J. Pyke, A Biographical Dictionary of Wax Modellers, 1973).
Doubtful Portraits
Miniature by Peter Cross c.1676, bust-length oval in blue dress. Duke of Buccleuch (illus. S. Lloyd, Portrait Miniatures in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch, 1996, no.60, pl.17).
Painting attributed to Simon Verelst c.1678, half-length holding a vase of flowers. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.667; illus. W. S. Churchill, Marlborough and His Times, 1933, I, p 118).
Painting by Godfrey Kneller c.1700, bust-length sketch, with short hair. Althorp (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.355; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.475 as probably showing her daughter, Henrietta Churchill; illus. C. Hibbert, The Marlboroughs, 2001, f.p.138, pl.19, or cf. Kneller’s portrait of Anne Churchill, illus. H. Montgomery-Massingberd, Blenheim Revisited, 1985, p 31).
Painting by Michael Dahl c.1702?, half-length oval, in déshabille, her hair over her left shoulder. Althorp (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 67, no.95b; (K. J. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of Pictures at Althorp’, Wal. Soc., XLV, 1976, no.351, pl.12 as Kneller, but see J. D. Stewart, Burlington Magazine, CXX, 1978, p 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.