Godfrey Kneller

LOT 334 THE PROPERTY OF A NOBLEMAN SIR GODFREY KNELLER, BT. L�BECK 1646 - 1723 LONDON PORTRAIT OF THE LEOPOLD, COUNT OF AUERSPERG (1662-1705) inscribed and dated lower right: Count Auversberg. / G. Kneller: fecit / 1696. and further inscribed on the reverse: Count Auversberg / Envoy Extraordinary / from the Emperor to King William / Godfrey Kneller fecit / 1696 oil on canvas, oval 74 by 61.5 cm.; 29 by 24¼ in.

Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646-1723 London) Portrait of David Colyear, 2nd Viscount Milsington (1698-1728/9), and Charles Colyear, 2nd Earl of Portmore (1700-1785), in classical attire, a dog resting by their side, in a wooded landscape inscribed '[T]HE COUNTES[SIC] OF DON[?]' (lower right, on the dog collar) oil on canvas 61 x 49½ in. (155 x 125.8 cm.) Slate Manor House, Netherbury, Dorset; T.R.G. Lawrence & Son, Crewkerne, 17-18 August 1966, lot 338. The sitters were the sons of David Colyear, 1st Earl of Portmore (d. 1729), a prominent General who joined the Scots Brigade in the Dutch service and accompanied the Prince of Orange to England, serving him (as King William III) in the Spanish War of Succession (1701-14). This eventually took him to Portugal, where he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the King's forces (1710). The sitters' mother Catherine Sedley, had been a mistress of King James II. David, the elder son and heir, who was styled Viscount Milsington during his lifetime, married Bridget, daughter of the Hon. John Noel, of Walcot, Northamptonshire, third son of Baptist, Viscount Campden, in 1720, but predeceased his father, without children. His younger brother Charles, styled Viscount Milsington following his brother's death, later succeeded his father as the 2nd Earl of Portmore.

(STYLE OF) SIR GODFREY KNELLER (BRITISH, 1646-1723) PORTRAIT OF MISS MARY GODOLPHIN; PORTRAIT OF MISS ELIZABETH GODOLPHIN PAIR OF 19TH CENTURY OVAL OILS ON CANVAS; TITLED TO GALLERY LABELS VERSO Each 30.00" x 25.00", 76.20 cm x 63.50 cm Provenance: THE CARROLL GALLERIES, TORONTO) Est. $1000 / 1500

SIR GODFREY KNELLER (1646 - 1723) PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM III (1650 - 1702) KING OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND AND PRINCE OF ORANGE oil on canvas 83cm x 65cm Provenance: Property of the family of Viscount Craigavon, first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Note : Kneller was the greatest master of the English baroque portrait. As Court Painter to four sovereigns, he dominated English art for more than thirty years. Born in Lübeck, Germany, Kneller trained as a painter in Amsterdam under Rembrandt's pupil, Bol. He visited Rome and Venice probably painting portraits of Venetian nobility before coming to England in about 1676. He was appointed Principal Painter to the Court of William and Mary in 1688. He was knighted in 1692 and made a Baronet in 1715, the first painter to be so honoured.

Lot Description Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646-1723 London) Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721), full-length, in a dark coat with a brown mantle, seated by a table with erroneous identifying inscription 'Sheffield Duke of Buckingham and Normanby Earl of Mulgrave Died 1721.' (lower left) oil on canvas 94 x 60 in. (238.8 x 152.4 cm.) in a contemporary carved and gilded 'running-pattern' frame Provenance Acquired from Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, in 1913, by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray. Literature Cowdray Park Catalogue, London, 1919, p. 6, no. 20, as 'John Sheffield' (in the Buck Hall). C. Anson, A Catalogue of Pictures and Drawings in the Collection of The Viscount Cowdray, London, 1971, p. 4, no. 15, as 'a Gentleman, said to be the Duke of Buckingham' (in the Buck Hall). J. Douglas Stewart, Sir Godfrey Kneller and the English Baroque Portrait, Oxford, 1983, p. 136, no. 780, as 'Unknown Man (called 'Duke of Buckinghamshire')' and dated c. 1685. J. Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, London, 2009, p. 34, under 'Doubtful Portraits'. View Lot Notes › An old label on the reverse reads: '1747 Duke of Buckingham Sir G. Kneller 257 gns'. However, the traditional identification of the sitter as the statesman and author John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, who Gilbert Burnet described as 'a nobleman of learning, and good natural parts, but of no principle', is not accepted by Stewart (op. cit.) and is considered doubtful by John Ingamells (op. cit.). Stewart dates the portrait to circa 1685.