Godfrey Kneller | |
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 Self-portrait, 1685 | |
| Born | Gottfried Kniller (1646-08-08)8 August 1646 |
| Died | 19 October 1723(1723-10-19) (aged 77) London, England |
| Known for | Portrait painting |
| Spouse | Susanna Grave |
| Relatives |
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Sir Godfrey Kneller,[a]1st Baronet (bornGottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723) was a German-born British painter. The leadingportraitist in England during the lateStuart and earlyGeorgian eras, he served as court painter to successiveEnglish and British monarchs, includingCharles II of England andGeorge I of Great Britain. Kneller also painted scientists such asIsaac Newton, foreign monarchs such asLouis XIV of France and visitors to England such asMichael Shen Fu-Tsung. A pioneer of thekit-cat portrait, he was also commissioned byWilliam III of England to paint eight "Hampton Court Beauties" to match a similar series of paintings of Charles II's "Windsor Beauties" that had been painted by Kneller's predecessor as court painter,Peter Lely.
Kneller was born Gottfried Kniller in theFree City of Lübeck, the son of Zacharias Kniller, a portrait painter.[2] Kneller studied inLeiden, but became a pupil ofFerdinand Bol andRembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn inAmsterdam. He then travelled with his brotherJohn Zacharias Kneller, who was an ornamental painter, toRome andVenice in the early 1670s, painting historical subjects and portraits in the studio ofCarlo Maratti, and later moved toHamburg.
The brothers came to England in 1676,[3] and won the patronage of theDuke of Monmouth. He was introduced to, and painted a portrait of,Charles II.
In England, Kneller concentrated almost entirely on portraiture. In the spirit of enterprise, 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 fullwigs. His portraits set a pattern that was followed untilWilliam Hogarth andJoshua Reynolds.
Nevertheless, he established himself as a leading portrait artist in England. When SirPeter Lely died in 1680, Kneller was jointly appointedPrincipal Painter in Ordinary withJohn Riley to the Crown by Charles II.[4][5][6]
For about 20 years (c. 1682–1702) he lived at No. 1617 The Great Piazza,Covent Garden.[7] Kneller's studio manager wasEdward Byng.
In the 1690s, Kneller painted theHampton Court Beauties depicting the most glamorous ladies-in-waiting of the Royal Court for which he received, in 1692, hisknighthood fromWilliam III. In 1695, he received, in the presence of the King, an honorary Doctorate of Law from theUniversity of Oxford. In 1700, he was created a Knight of theHoly Roman Empire by EmperorLeopold I.[8] He produced a series of "Kit-cat" portraits of 48 leading politicians and men of letters, members of theKit-Cat Club.[2]
Created abaronet by KingGeorge I on 24 May 1715,[2] he was also head of theKneller Academy of Painting and Drawing from 1711 until 1716 inGreat Queen Street,London, which counted such artists asThomas Gibson amongst its founding directors. His paintings were praised byWhig members includingJohn Dryden,Joseph Addison,[9]Richard Steele, andAlexander Pope.
On the landing inHorsham Museum inWest Sussex hang works of art from the museum's extensive painting collection, featuring a large 18th-century portrait ofCharles Eversfield and his wife, of Denne Park House.[10]
He married a widow, Susanna Grave, on 23 January 1704 atSt Bride's Church, London.[2] She was the daughter of the ReverendJohn Cawley,Archdeacon of Lincoln and Rector ofHenley-on-Thames, and the granddaughter ofregicideWilliam Cawley.[2] The couple had no children.[citation needed]
Kneller died of fever in 1723 at Great Queen Street and his remains were interred atTwickenham. He had been achurchwarden atSt Mary's, Twickenham, when the 14th-centurynave collapsed in 1713 and was active in the plans for the church's reconstruction byJohn James.[12] His widow was buried at Twickenham on 11 December 1729.[2]
As to thinking better or worse of mankind from experience, some cunning people will not be satisfied unless they have put men to the test, as they think. There is a very good story told of Sir Godfrey Kneller, in his character of a Justice of the peace. A gentleman brought his servant before him, upon an accusation of having stolen some money from him; but it having come out that he had laid it purposely in the servant's way, in order to try his honesty, Sir Godfrey sent the master to prison.
A memorial was erected inWestminster Abbey.[2] Kneller's will gave a pension of £100 a year to his assistantEdward Byng and entrusted Byng with seeing that all unfinished work was completed. Byng also inherited the drawings in Kneller's studio.[14] Kneller and his wife had no children together.[2] Most of his fortune was inherited by his grandson, Godfrey Kneller Huckle, who was the son of Agnes Huckle,[2] Kneller's illegitimate daughter by Mrs Voss,[15] and who took his grandfather's surname (Kneller)[16] as a condition of his inheritance.
The site of the house Kneller built in 1709 inWhitton, near Twickenham, became occupied by the mid-19th centuryKneller Hall, home of theRoyal Military School of Music.[2]
In his hometownLübeck there are works to be seen in theSt. Annen Museum and inSaint Catherine Church. His former works atSt. Mary's Church were destroyed by theBombing of Lübeck 1942. A large oil portrait (84" x 55") of James VII of Scotland (KingJames II of England) hangs on the main staircase of private members' club,The Caledonian Club, in Belgravia, London.
A portrait ofQueen Anne that belongs toTrinity Hospital inRetford, Nottinghamshire has been attributed to Kneller by the auctioneers Phillips – though it is unsigned. The hospital has a strong connection with Queen Anne, the founder being a first cousin of her grandmother. The portrait was restored and cleaned in 1999.
_-_Princess_Anne_(1665%25E2%2580%25931714)%2c_Later_Queen_Anne_-_1171125_-_National_Trust.jpg)
Notes
Citations
... (1646–1723), portrait painter, was born in Lubeck on 8 Aug. 1646 and first ... On Lely's death in 1680, Kneller came to share the royal patronage with Riley (died 1691).
... as Principal Painter to the King, first in a joint appointment with Riley (1689), then on his own (1691); King William had ...
Sources
Adapted from a following source:Freitag, Wolfgang M. (1997) [1985].Art Books: A Basic Bibliography of Monographs on Artists (2nd ed.). New York, London: Garland. p. 203, entries nos. 6184–6186.ISBN 0-8240-3326-4.LCCN 96028425.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Media related toGodfrey Kneller at Wikimedia Commons
John Benbow Esq. Admiral of the Fleet.engraved byWilliam Henry Mote for Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1838 with a poetical illustration byLetitia Elizabeth Landon.| Court offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King 1680–1723 | Succeeded by |
| Baronetage of Great Britain | ||
| New creation | Baronet (of Whitton) 1715–1723 | Extinct |
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