Unknown woman, formerly known as Sarah Churchill (née Jenyns (Jennings)), Duchess of Marlborough

This portraitback to top

As Piper observed, the identification of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, is not convincing, but the head may be compared with that of Dahl's Jane, Countess of Clarendon [1] in the Clarendon collection, which Gibson also compared with Dahl's Elizabeth, Countess of Sandwich, in Birmingham Art Gallery (P24.57). [2]

Footnotesback to top

1) R. Gibson, Catalogue of Portraits in the collection of the Earl of Clarendon, 1977, no.34; J. D. Stewart, Godfrey Kneller, 1983, pl.41d.
2) Illus. Paintings, Birmingham Art Gallery, 1960, pl.19a.

Referenceback to top

Collins Baker 1912
C. H. Collins Baker, Lely and the Stuart Portrait Painters, 1912, II, p 99 as Marlborough.

Nisser 1927
W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 29, no.96b pl.xx as Marlborough.

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 220 called Marlborough.

Provenanceback to top

Gen. Sir Charles Hastings Doyle KCMG (1804-83); Christie's, 7 March 1884, lot 84 as Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough by Kneller, bought Henry Graves, from whom purchased 1884.

Exhibitionsback to top

Beningbrough 1992-.


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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