Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723) was a German-born British painter. The leading
portraitist
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...
in England during the late
Stuart and early
Georgian era
The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the House of Hanover, Hanoverian kings George I of Great Britain, George I, George II of Great Britain, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Geor ...
s, he served as court painter to successive
English and British monarchs, including
Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II was the eldest su ...
and
George I of Great Britain
George I (George Louis; ; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. ...
. Kneller also painted scientists such as
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
, foreign monarchs such as
Louis XIV of France
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
and visitors to England such as
Michael Shen Fu-Tsung. A pioneer of the
kit-cat portrait, he was also commissioned by
William III of England
William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...
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
Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 30 November 1680) was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. He became a naturalised British subject and was kn ...
.
Early life

Kneller was born Gottfried Kniller in the
Free City of Lübeck
Free may refer to:
Concept
* Freedom, the ability to act or change without constraint or restriction
* Emancipate, attaining civil and political rights or equality
* Free (gratis), Free (''gratis''), free of charge
* Gratis versus libre, the di ...
, the son of Zacharias Kniller, a portrait painter.
[ Cokayne, George Edward (1906) ]
Complete Baronetage
'. Volume V. Exeter: W. Pollard & Co. . pp. 27–28 Kneller studied in
Leiden
Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
, but became a pupil of
Ferdinand Bol and
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the h ...
in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. He then travelled with his brother
John Zacharias Kneller, who was an ornamental painter, to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
and
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
in the early 1670s, painting historical subjects and portraits in the studio of
Carlo Maratti, and later moved to
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
.
Career
The brothers came to England in 1676, and won the patronage of the
Duke of Monmouth
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...
. 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 full
wigs
A wig is a head covering made from human or animal hair, or a synthetic imitation thereof. The word is short for "periwig". Wigs may be worn to disguise baldness, to alter the wearer's appearance, or as part of certain professional uniforms.
H ...
. His portraits set a pattern that was followed until
William Hogarth
William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...
and
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...
.
Nevertheless, he established himself as a leading portrait artist in England. When Sir
Peter Lely
Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 30 November 1680) was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. He became a naturalised British subject and was kn ...
died in 1680, Kneller was jointly appointed
Principal Painter in Ordinary with
John Riley to the Crown by Charles II.
For about 20 years (–1702) he lived at No. 16-17 The Great Piazza,
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...
. Kneller's studio manager was
Edward Byng.
In the 1690s, Kneller painted the
Hampton Court Beauties depicting the most glamorous ladies-in-waiting of the Royal Court for which he received, in 1692, his
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
from
William III. In 1695, he received, in the presence of the King, an honorary Doctorate of Law from the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
. In 1700, he was created a Knight of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
by Emperor
Leopold I. He produced a series of "
Kit-cat" portraits of 48 leading politicians and men of letters, members of the
Kit-Cat Club
The Kit-Cat Club (sometimes Kit Kat Club) was an early 18th-century English club in London with strong political and literary associations. Members of the club were committed Whigs (British political party), Whigs. They met at the Trumpet Tavern ...
.
Created a
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
by King
George I on 24 May 1715,
he was also head of the ''Kneller Academy of Painting and Drawing'' from 1711 until 1716 in
Great Queen Street,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, which counted such artists as
Thomas Gibson amongst its founding directors. His paintings were praised by
Whig members including
John Dryden
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...
,
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 May 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with w ...
,
Richard Steele
Sir Richard Steele ( – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright and politician best known as the co-founder of the magazine ''The Spectator (1711), The Spectator'' alongside his close friend Joseph Addison.
Early life
Steel ...
, and
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...
.
On the landing in
Horsham Museum in
West Sussex
West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...
hang works of art from the museum's extensive painting collection, featuring a large 18th-century portrait of
Charles Eversfield and his wife, of Denne Park House.
Personal life

He married a widow, Susanna Grave, on 23 January 1704 at
St Bride's Church
St Bride's Church is a Church of England church in Fleet Street in the City of London. Likely dedicated to Bridget of Kildare, Saint Bridget perhaps as early as the 6th century, the building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christo ...
, London.
She was the daughter of the Reverend
John Cawley,
Archdeacon of Lincoln and Rector of
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, west of M ...
, and the granddaughter of
regicide
Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...
William Cawley.
The couple had no children.
Death
Kneller died of fever in 1723 at Great Queen Street and his remains were interred at
Twickenham
Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...
. He had been a
churchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion, Lutheran Churches or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' mem ...
at
St Mary's, Twickenham, when the 14th-century
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
collapsed in 1713 and was active in the plans for the church's reconstruction by
John James. His widow was buried at Twickenham on 11 December 1729.
Legacy
A memorial was erected in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
.
Kneller's will gave a pension of £100 a year to his assistant
Edward Byng and entrusted Byng with seeing that all unfinished work was completed. Byng also inherited the drawings in Kneller's studio. Kneller and his wife had no children together.
Most of his fortune was inherited by his grandson, Godfrey Kneller Huckle, who was the son of Agnes Huckle,
Kneller's illegitimate daughter by Mrs Voss, and who took his grandfather's surname (Kneller)
as a condition of his inheritance.
The site of the house Kneller built in 1709 in
Whitton, near Twickenham, became occupied by the mid-19th century
Kneller Hall, home of the
Royal Military School of Music.
Works
In his hometown
Lübeck
Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
there are works to be seen in the
St. Annen Museum 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 II of England
James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II of England, Charles II, on 6 February 1 ...
) hangs on the main staircase of private members' club,
The Caledonian Club, in Belgravia, London.
A portrait of
Queen Anne that belongs to
Trinity Hospital in
Retford, 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.
Gallery
File:Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) - Princess Anne (1665–1714), Later Queen Anne - 1171125 - National Trust.jpg, Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...
, 1683
File:King James II by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg, '' Portrait of James II of England'', 1684
File:GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg, Portrait
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...
of Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
, 1689
File:WilliamIII.jpg, William III, 1690
File:John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg, Earl of Marlborough, c. 1690
File:JohnLocke.png, Portrait
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...
of John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...
, 1697
File:Peter I by Kneller.jpg, Peter the Great
Peter I (, ;
– ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...
, 1698
File:Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, Princess of Mindelheim, Countess of Nellenburg (née Jenyns, spelt Jennings in most modern references; 5 June 1660 (Old Style) – 18 October 1744), was an English courtier who rose to be one of th ...
, c.1702
File:James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg, James Stanhope, c.1710
File:Christopher Wren by Godfrey Kneller 1711.jpg, ''Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren
''Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren'' is an oil on canvas portrait painting by the German-born British artist Godfrey Kneller of the English architect Christopher Wren, from 1711. Wren, a polymath, is best known for his design of St Paul's Cathed ...
'', 1711.
See also
*
English school of painting
*
Kneller Hall
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*