Godfrey Kneller
Encyclopedia
Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (August 8, 1646 – October 19, 1723) was the leading portrait painter in England
during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to British monarchs from Charles II
to George I. His major works include The Chinese Convert
(1687); a series of four portraits of Isaac Newton
painted at various junctures of the latter's life; a series of ten reigning European monarchs, including King Louis XIV of France
; over 40 "Kit-cat portrait
s" of members of the Kit-Cat Club
; and ten "beauties
" of the court of William III
, to match a similar series of ten beauties
of the court of Charles II painted by his predecessor as court painter, Sir Peter Lely.
Kneller was born Gottfried Kniller in Lübeck
, Germany
, the son of Zacharias Kniller. Kneller studied in Leiden, but became a pupil of Ferdinand Bol
and Rembrandt in Amsterdam
. He then traveled with his brother John Zacharias Kneller, who was an ornamental painter, to Rome
and Venice
in the early 1670s, painting historical subjects and portraits, and later moved to Hamburg
. They came to England in 1674, at the invitation of the Duke of Monmouth. He was introduced to, and painted a portrait of, Charles II
. In England, Kneller concentrated almost entirely on portraiture. He founded a studio which churned out portraits on an almost industrial scale, relying on a brief sketch of the face with details added to a formulaic model, aided by the fashion for gentlemen to wear full wigs. His portraits set a pattern that was followed until William Hogarth
and Joshua Reynolds
.
Nevertheless, he established himself as a leading portrait artist in England. When Sir Peter Lely died in 1680, Kneller was appointed Principal Painter to the Crown by Charles II. In the 1690s, Kneller painted the Hampton Court Beauties
depicting the most glamorous ladies-in-waiting of the Royal Court for which he received his knighthood from William III
. He produced a series of "Kit-cat
" portraits of 48 leading politicians and men of letters, members of the Kit-Cat Club
. Created a baronet
by King George I, he was also head of the Kneller Academy of Painting and Drawing 1711-1716 in Great Queen Street
, London
, which counted such artists as Thomas Gibson
amongst its founding directors. His paintings were praised by Whig
luminaries such as John Dryden
, Joseph Addison
, Richard Steele
, and Alexander Pope
.
On the landing in Horsham Museum
hang works of art from the Museum's extensive painting collection, featuring a large eighteenth century portrait of Charles Eversfield
and his wife of Denne Park House. In the painting Eversfield is giving his wife some violets which signifies fidelity, love and honesty. It is likely that the picture was cut down at some time as it was unusual to stop just below the knee. It may have been painted by more than one person: someone who specialised in clothing, another in drapes, and so on, with perhaps the great court painter Sir Godfrey Kneller painting the heads, for it was the portraits that gave the sitters their identity, everything else is rather formulaic.
Kneller died of fever in 1723 and his remains were interred in Twickenham Church (he was a churchwarden there when the 14th century nave collapsed in 1713 and was involved in the plans for its reconstruction). The site of the house he built in 1709 in Whitton
near Twickenham
is now occupied by the mid-19th century Kneller Hall
, home of the Royal Military School of Music
.
and in Saint Catherine Church. His former works at St. Mary's Church
were destroyed by the Bombing of Lübeck
1942. A large oil portrait (84" x 55") of James VII of Scotland (King James I of England) hangs on the main staircase of private members' Club, The Caledonian Club, in Belgravia, London.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to British monarchs from Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
to George I. His major works include The Chinese Convert
The Chinese Convert
The Chinese Convert is a famous 1687 painting by Godfrey Kneller depicting the Chinese man Michael Alphonsius Shen Fu-Tsung.The painting was ordered by King James II when he met Shen Fu-Tsung during his visit to England in 1685...
(1687); a series of four portraits of Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
painted at various junctures of the latter's life; a series of ten reigning European monarchs, including King Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
; over 40 "Kit-cat portrait
Kit-cat portrait
A kit-cat portrait or kit-kat portrait is a particular size of portrait, less than half-length, but including the hands. The name originates from a series of portraits which were commissioned from Godfrey Kneller for members of the Kit-Cat Club, to be hung in their meeting place at Barn Elms...
s" of members of the Kit-Cat Club
Kit-Cat Club
The Kit-Cat Club was an early 18th century English club in London with strong political and literary associations, committed to the furtherance of Whig objectives, meeting at the Trumpet tavern in London, and at Water Oakley in the Berkshire countryside.The first meetings were held at a tavern in...
; and ten "beauties
Hampton Court Beauties
The Hampton Court Beauties are a series of portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller, commissioned by Queen Mary II of England depicting the most glamorous ladies from the court of William III. They adorn the state rooms of King William III at Hampton Court Palace...
" of the court of William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
, to match a similar series of ten beauties
Windsor Beauties
The Windsor beauties are a famous collection of paintings by Sir Peter Lely, painted in the early to mid 1660s.They were originally housed in the Queen's bedchamber in Windsor Castle...
of the court of Charles II painted by his predecessor as court painter, Sir Peter Lely.
Life
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the son of Zacharias Kniller. Kneller studied in Leiden, but became a pupil of Ferdinand Bol
Ferdinand Bol
Ferdinand Bol was a Dutch artist, etcher, and draftsman. Although his surviving work is rare, it displays Rembrandt's influence; like his master, Bol favored historical subjects, portraits, numerous self-portraits, and single figures in exotic finery.The street Ferdinand Bolstraat in Amsterdam was...
and Rembrandt in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. He then traveled with his brother John Zacharias Kneller, who was an ornamental painter, to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in the early 1670s, painting historical subjects and portraits, and later moved to Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. They came to England in 1674, at the invitation of the Duke of Monmouth. He was introduced to, and painted a portrait of, Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
. In England, Kneller concentrated almost entirely on portraiture. He founded a studio which churned out portraits on an almost industrial scale, relying on a brief sketch of the face with details added to a formulaic model, aided by the fashion for gentlemen to wear full wigs. His portraits set a pattern that was followed until William Hogarth
William Hogarth
William Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
and Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
.
Nevertheless, he established himself as a leading portrait artist in England. When Sir Peter Lely died in 1680, Kneller was appointed Principal Painter to the Crown by Charles II. In the 1690s, Kneller painted the Hampton Court Beauties
Hampton Court Beauties
The Hampton Court Beauties are a series of portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller, commissioned by Queen Mary II of England depicting the most glamorous ladies from the court of William III. They adorn the state rooms of King William III at Hampton Court Palace...
depicting the most glamorous ladies-in-waiting of the Royal Court for which he received his knighthood from William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
. He produced a series of "Kit-cat
Kit-cat portrait
A kit-cat portrait or kit-kat portrait is a particular size of portrait, less than half-length, but including the hands. The name originates from a series of portraits which were commissioned from Godfrey Kneller for members of the Kit-Cat Club, to be hung in their meeting place at Barn Elms...
" portraits of 48 leading politicians and men of letters, members of the Kit-Cat Club
Kit-Cat Club
The Kit-Cat Club was an early 18th century English club in London with strong political and literary associations, committed to the furtherance of Whig objectives, meeting at the Trumpet tavern in London, and at Water Oakley in the Berkshire countryside.The first meetings were held at a tavern in...
. Created a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
by King George I, he was also head of the Kneller Academy of Painting and Drawing 1711-1716 in Great Queen Street
Great Queen Street
Great Queen Street is a street in central London, England in the West End. It is a continuation of Long Acre from Drury Lane to Kingsway. It runs from 1 to 44 along the north side, east to west, and 45 to about 80 along the south side, west to east...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, which counted such artists as Thomas Gibson
Thomas Gibson (artist)
Thomas Gibson was an English painter and copyist. He was an established portrait painter by 1711, when he was appointed a founding director of Godfrey Kneller's Academy in London; among his pupils there was George Vertue...
amongst its founding directors. His paintings were praised by Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
luminaries such as John Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
, Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was a man of letters, eldest son of Lancelot Addison...
, Richard Steele
Richard Steele
Sir Richard Steele was an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine The Spectator....
, and Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
.
On the landing in Horsham Museum
Horsham Museum
Horsham Museum is a museum at Horsham, West Sussex, in South East England. It was founded in August 1893 by volunteers of the Free Christian Church and became part of Horsham District Council in 1974...
hang works of art from the Museum's extensive painting collection, featuring a large eighteenth century portrait of Charles Eversfield
Eversfield Baronets
The Fermor, later Eversfield Baronetcy, of Welches in the County of Suffolk and of Sevenoak in the County of Kent, was a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain. It was created on 4 May 1725 for Henry Fermor, with remainder in default of male issue of his own to Charles Eversfield, of Denne Park,...
and his wife of Denne Park House. In the painting Eversfield is giving his wife some violets which signifies fidelity, love and honesty. It is likely that the picture was cut down at some time as it was unusual to stop just below the knee. It may have been painted by more than one person: someone who specialised in clothing, another in drapes, and so on, with perhaps the great court painter Sir Godfrey Kneller painting the heads, for it was the portraits that gave the sitters their identity, everything else is rather formulaic.
Whitton, London
Whitton is a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, situated 10.7 miles west south-west of Charing Cross in Central London...
near Twickenham
Twickenham
Twickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...
is now occupied by the mid-19th century Kneller Hall
Kneller Hall
Kneller Hall is a stately home in the Twickenham area of west London, and takes its name from Sir Godfrey Kneller, court painter to British monarchs from Charles II to George I...
, home of the Royal Military School of Music
Royal Military School of Music
The Royal Military School of Music in Twickenham, west London, trains musicians for the British Army's twenty-nine bands. It is part of the Corps of Army Music...
.
Works
In his hometown Lübeck there are works to be seen in the St. Annen MuseumSt. Annen Museum
The monastery of Saint Annen in Lübeck-Germany is a former monastery of the Augustinians. It is now part of the Lübeck's museum for history of art and culture...
and in Saint Catherine Church. His former works at St. Mary's Church
St. Mary's Church, Lübeck
The Lutheran Marienkirche in Lübeck was constructed between 1250 and 1350. For many years it has been a symbol of the power and prosperity of the old Hanseatic city, and as Germany's third largest church it remains the tallest building of the old part of Lübeck. It is larger than Lübeck Cathedral...
were destroyed by the Bombing of Lübeck
Bombing of Lübeck in World War II
thumb|Joseph Krautwald's The MotherDuring World War II, the city of Lübeck was the first German city to be attacked in substantial numbers by the Royal Air Force. The attack on the night of 28 March 1942 created a firestorm that caused severe damage to the historic centre, the bombs destroying...
1942. A large oil portrait (84" x 55") of James VII of Scotland (King James I of England) hangs on the main staircase of private members' Club, The Caledonian Club, in Belgravia, London.
External links
- King Charles II (1685) at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
- Artcyclopedia: Sir Godfrey Kneller
- Biography
- Encyclopedia: Kneller, Sir Godfrey
- Portraits by Kneller at the National Portrait GalleryNational Portrait Gallery (England)The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in London, England, housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1856. The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off...
- Self-portrait at the National Portrait GalleryNational Portrait Gallery (England)The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in London, England, housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1856. The gallery moved in 1896 to its current site at St Martin's Place, off...
- Horsham Museum