A mezzotint after a self-portrait of Sir Godfrey Kneller; almost half length, turned to the right, with his face turned three-quarters to the right. Oval format. 1st state. Inscribed below: GODFRID' KNELLER Germ: / a Carolo ii. Monarcha Britann: ad depingendum Ludovicum m: in Gal: / liam missus; Pictor utrinq. Vere Regius / a:o:c: m d clxxxcv. / G. Kneller p: / I Beckett f:

This is the first of three prints which show how Kneller’s public image evolved over the course of his career. It reproduces Kneller’s self-portrait of 1685 (National Portrait Gallery, London), capturing the artist as a dashing young man (then aged 39 but looking younger) in the spirit of his idol, Anthony van Dyck. This was made before Kneller had obtained any official honours – Antonio Verrio was still Court Painter – so the inscription refers to Charles II sending Kneller to France in 1684 to paint a portrait of Louis XIV (his drawing from the life is at Windsor, RCIN 913310). See also RCIN 657626, 657637.

Born in Germany, Godfrey Kneller trained in Amsterdam and travelled in Italy before settling in London in 1676. After the deaths of Peter Lely in 1680 and William Wissing in 1687, he established himself as the dominant portrait painter in England for the next 30 years: he was made Principal Painter to William III in 1689, knighted and made a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber in 1692, awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford in 1695, made a knight of the Holy Roman Empire in 1700, confirmed as Principal Painter to Queen Anne in 1702 and to George I in 1714, and finally created a Baronet in 1715, a rank unsurpassed by an artist in Britain until Frederic Leighton was created Baron Leighton of Stretton almost two centuries later.

Kneller was hugely productive (Stewart 1983 catalogued 875 paintings) and assiduously promoted himself through self-portraiture and the publication of prints after his paintings. He formed close working relationships with Isaac Beckett, who made mezzotints of 28 of his works, and with Beckett’s pupil and successor John Smith, who reproduced 113 of his portraits, publishing the majority himself.

Text adapted from Portrait of the Artist, London, 2016