Portrait of a Lady c.1710; Circle of Sir Godfrey Kneller.

Oil on canvas in period carved giltwood frame.

The unknown sitter, an attractive young woman, looks our at the viewer with an aristocratic hauteur. Painted by a member of Kneller's Circle, the brushwork is as strong and emphatic as was that of Kneller himself. As Kneller said when someone peered very closely at one of his portraits, ‘My paintings were not made for smelling of…’.

This is the age of the 'Augustan' portrait (1690-1744) when the sitter expected to be 'elevated'...an expression of gravitas behind which was culture and intelligence. This was the English way...not for them the smiling, sometimes simpering, expressions painted by the French.

Joseph Addison, famous essayist, poet, playwright and politician and a man of letters sneeringly described French portraits as "very remarkable for their smiles and a certain smirking Air...bestowed indifferently on every Age and Degree of either sex. The Toujours Gai appeared even in Judges, Bishops and Privy Counsellors...every part of the Dress was in a Flutter, and endeavoured to distinguish itself above the rest."

Kneller and his Circle typified the dignified English style, and this is a good example.

SIR GODFREY KNELLER (1646-1723) was the most distinguished painter of baroque portraits in England.
Born in Lubeck, he trained with Bol and Rembrandt, coming to London in 1676.
By 1679 he had painted the King and remained the most famous and successful portrait painter in England until his death.
In 1688 he was made Principal Painter to the King and was knighted in 1692 and a made a baronet in 1715.
His style had a profound influence on British portraiture and a large number of artists, many very talented in their own right, emulated his fashionable style.

SIZE: 37 x 32 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: Sussex Private Collection.