Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue

Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (1662-1748), Politician, Lord President of the Council and Master of the Horse

c.1682
Painting by John Riley, half-length oval, wearing cuirass, inscribed (Cat. 1920, p 109, no.248, illus. f.p.109).

1688
Mezzotint by J. Smith 1688 after Jan Van der Vaart (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 236), half-length oval in armour with Garter ribbon.

1690
Mezzotint by J. Smith 1690 after John Riley, bust-length oval in Garter robes (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 235; front. to Loggan’s Cantabrigia Illustrata, 1690). A drawing by Robert White (Sotheby’s, 11 July 1991, lot 21) relates closely to this head.

c.1690-93
Marble statue by Grinling Gibbons à la romaine. Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge (M. Baker, ‘The Portrait Sculpture’ in D. McKetterick ed., The Making of the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, 1995, f.p.137, fig.58). The Duke was the outstanding benefactor of the Wren Library.

[c.1690-1700]
Unattributed painting, whole-length in Garter robes, left arm resting on a plinth, legs crossed. Trinity College, Cambridge, presented by Charles, Marquess of Granby (later 4th Duke of Rutland, a direct descendant of the sitter), apparently by Nathaniel Dance c.1770, based on an unidentified original; the costume appears to date from the end of the seventeenth century (G. P. Harding, List of Portraits, Pictures in Various Mansions of the United Kingdom, III, f.105 ‘copy Dance’; T. D. Atkinson, Cambridge Described and Illustrated, 1897, p 452 as ‘a copy by Dance’).

1692
Painting by John Closterman, whole-length in Garter robes, right hand on hip, attended by a black servant and a black dog. Petworth (cat. 1920, p 110, no.129 as by Riley and Closterman; M. Rogers, ‘John and John Baptist Closterman: a catalogue of their works’, Wal. Soc., XLIX, 1983, no.89, pl.35; C. Rowell, Apollo, CLI, June 2000, p 23).

c.1700
Engraving by W. Clarke (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 2), bust-length oval.

c.1703
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, see NPG 3224.

c.1710
Painting by Michael Dahl, three-quarter-length in Garter robes, left hand on hip, hat to left. Muncaster Castle.

1713
Painting by Godfrey Kneller, three-quarter-length standing in Garter robes, left hand on hip, signed and dated. Petworth (cat. 1920, p 68, no.345; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.687). Versions from the collection of the Duke of Somerset (Miss J. M. Seymour, East Knoyle, descendant of the 1st Duke of Somerset; her sale, Christie’s, 19 January 1945, lot 56), and at Alnwick, both showing him with hat in right hand. A made up whole-length version is also at Petworth (cat. 1920, p 70, no.455). A drawing of this type 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 210, 1897.8.13.3, Byng 2:f.21r), with two others from another unidentified Kneller(?) source (ibid., p 229, 1897.8.13.6, Byng 5:f.43r, and pp 259-60, Album 15).

1756
Statue by J. M. Rysbrack, in Van Dyck dress with Garter, a scroll in right hand. Senate House, Cambridge, presented by the sitter’s daughters (J. W. Goodison, Cambridge Portraits, I, 1955, p 32, no.7, pl.xiii).

Sporting Scenes

Painting by John Wootton, Newmarket Scene, 1724, including the bare-headed Duke; Petworth (cat. 1920, p 137, no.257; illus. A. Meyer, John Wootton, Kenwood, 1984, p 33, no.4). Drawing by Peter Tillemans, Duke of Somerset on Horseback; Paul Mellon collection (J. Egerton & D. Snelgrove, British Sporting … Drawings, 1978, p 92, no.2, pl.12).



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.