Sir George Rooke

Sir George Rooke, by Michael Dahl, based on a work of circa 1700 -NPG 1992 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue

Sir George Rooke

studio of Michael Dahl
based on a work of circa 1700
28 1/2 in. x 23 1/2 in. (724 mm x 597 mm) overall
NPG 1992

This portraitback to top

Despite the provenance from Rooke’s first wife’s family, NPG 1992 appears to be a studio work. A superior three-quarter-length version is now with Philip Mould, London. [1] Rooke appears younger than in NPG 6769, possibly implying a date of c.1700, although another version at Petworth, [2] engraved by I. Simon (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 131), [3] descended from Rooke’s third wife.
Rooke was a personal friend of Dahl, see NPG 6769.

Footnotesback to top

1) Formerly in the National Maritime Museum (BHC2974); sold Knight, Frank & Rutley, 12 May 1954, lot 15 as Hugh Cholmley by Lely; Christie’s, 10 November 1995, lot 83 (in poor condition), and 17 October 2006, lot 263 (restored).
2) Cat. 1920, p 21, no.286; inscribed, verso: Sir Geo. Rooke by G. Kneller. Bought by Rev. Dr. Clarke at Mrs Forester’s Sale, Green Street, Grosvenor Square. She was widow of Dr Forester & Sister of Admiral J Moore, & daughter of Rooke’s 3rd wife. W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. p 38, no.125b. Following the death of his second wife, Mary Luttrell, in 1702, Rooke married Catherine Knatchbull (c.1660-1755) of Mersham Hatch, see NPG 6769.
3) The third state lettered Wicherley. The type was engraved many times thereafter.

Referenceback to top

Duleep Singh 1927-8
Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, Portraits in Norfolk Houses, 2 vols, 1927-28, II, p 367, no.47.

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, pp 301-02.

Provenanceback to top

By descent through the sitter’s first wife’s family;1 Walsingham Abbey heirlooms sale, Christie’s, 25 November 1921, lot 14 (as by Kneller, a pair with an unidentified lady), bought Hibbard; purchased from the Hibbard Art Gallery, London, 1923.

1 The sitter’s first wife, Mary (d. 1699), was a sister of Sir George Howe, 1st Bt.; the 2nd Bt. was succeeded by a nephew, Henry Lee-Warner, of Walsingham Abbey.

Exhibitionsback to top

Rande 1702, Museo do Mar de Galicia, Vigo, 2002, no.103.


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.

View all known portraits for Michael Dahl

View all known portraits for Sir George Rooke