Queen Mary II

This portraitback to top

Like NPG 606, NPG 197, which is not of prime quality, derives from the Wissing pattern of 1685, with the crown added on the right and showing heavy features and a hairstyle indicating a date toward the end of Mary’s life, after Wissing’s death in 1687. [1] Wissing’s pupil Jan Van der Vaart had continued his master’s practice. [2] The comparable figure of Mary in the Scottish NPG (PG 1385) may also be attributed to him (despite the absence of a crown). Both heads relate closely to that in the Van der Vaart portrait of c.1690-94.

Footnotesback to top

1) Another version showing this high hair style of the 1690s was sold Bonham’s, 20 April 2005, lot 33 (the palace in the right background).
2) The portraits of Princess (Queen) Anne and William III engraved c.1690 by J. Smith 1687-88 (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 10, J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 274) as after Wissing and Van der Vaart.

Referenceback to top

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, pp 224-25 as adapted from Wissing.

Provenanceback to top

The Earls of Chesterfield; Henry Graves,¹ from whom purchased 1865.

¹ Graves wrote to Scharf on 31 May 1865: ‘I have got paintings in from Lord Chesterfield to sell [including] the Mary by Wissing … would you like to see it before I offer it for sale’ (NPG archive).

Exhibitionsback to top

British Museum 1994–.


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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