Queen Anne

Inscriptionback to top

Formerly inscribed: queen anne agée 35 ans/peint par Sr Gorge [sic] Kneller.<sup>1

1</sup> Recorded by D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 7. A second more recent inscription was recorded on 10 July 1911 by the restorer F. Haines: Sir Godfrey Kneller./Portrait.of.Queen Anne/age.34.ans - apparently derived from the much older French inscription.

This portraitback to top

Sold in 1911 as by Kneller, emphatically attributed to Dahl by Collins Baker, but again given to Kneller by Stewart in 1983. [1] The composition closely follows Kneller’s Lady Wentworth engraved by R. Williams c.1685, [2] and the head much resembles that of his 1689 Blenheim whole-length of Queen Anne. The elaborate plinth bears a figure of Ceres. [3]
A copy made in 1982 is in the Royal Free School, Windsor.

Footnotesback to top

1) Who also suggested comparisons with Kneller’s portraits of Lady Dorset and Lady Middleton in the Royal Collection (O. Millar, The Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1963, nos.154, 158), see Old Master Drawings, XI, 1973, p 44n10.
2) See J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, p 160, pl.82h.
3) Interpreted by Stewart as emblematic of Abundance, Good Government and Public Felicity; the distant temple he suggests is a reference to the Princess’s strong allegiance to the Church of England (J. D. Stewart, ‘Pin-ups or Virtues? The Concept of the ‘Beauties’ in Late Stuart Portraiture’, English Portraits of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, Los Angeles, 1974, pp 24-25 n30).

Referenceback to top

Collins Baker 1912
C. H. Collins Baker, Lely and the Stuart Portrait Painters, 1912, II, pp 97-98 as Dahl.

Nisser 1927
W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, p 100, cat. p 2, no.4a as Dahl.

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 7 as Dahl.

Stewart 1983
J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, no.44 as Kneller c.1690.

Provenanceback to top

By descent to the 13th Earl of Kinnoull (1855-1916), Dupplin Castle;¹ his sale Christie’s, 1 June 1911, lot 24 as Kneller, purchased.

¹ Where listed by Musgrave in 1798 (Sir William Musgrave, MS lists of portraits, British Museum, 6392, f.55, no.166) as Kneller.

Exhibitionsback to top

Meet the Family, Welsh Arts Council, 1972, no.19; Beningbrough 1979–2005; Visiting Portraits, Beningbrough 2007–08; Oudenaarde, En Stad, een Koning, een Veldheer, Oudenaarde, 2008.


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.

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View all known portraits for Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt