Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue

Michael Dahl (1659-1743), Portrait painter

Portrait painter; b. Stockholm; studied in Sweden under Ehrenstrahl; came to England 1682; travelled in Europe from 1684 (in Rome converting to catholicism) before settling in London in March 1689; patronised by the Stuart Court but neglected by the Hanoverian; in 1731 described by Vertue, with Jervas and Richardson, as one of the ‘three foremost Old Masters’; his elderly, short figure occupies a prominent place in Gawen Hamilton’s gathering of artists painted in 1735.

‘a man of great Modesty and few words … remarkably eminent for his affability and good Nature Morality and Temper’ (Vertue).

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.