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Self-Portrait
Godfrey Kneller, born 1646 - died 1723 - Enlarge image
Self-Portrait
- Object:
Self-portrait
- Place of origin:
London, England (painted)
- Date:
ca. 1690 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Godfrey Kneller, born 1646 - died 1723 (painter (artist))
- Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce
- Museum number:
DYCE.12&:1
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, Henrietta Street Room, room 54
Object Type
Most artists have attempted to portray themselves, as they cannot resist trying their skills on their own image, especially if they have made a living by portraiture.
Subjects Depicted
This self-portrait of Kneller shows him as he wished to be seen, as a gentleman wearing a fashionable wig. The emphasis on the eyes is a typical result of self-conscious self-portraits, done with the aid of a mirror.
People
Kneller was born in Lübeck, Germany. He studied mathematics and military fortification at Leyden University about 1662, and was then apprenticed in Amsterdam to the painters Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt. He travelled to Italy, particularly Rome and Venice. He settled in England in 1676, and by 1678 had secured royal patronage. Kneller was appointed in 1688 as Principal Painter to William III and was knighted in 1692. Kneller became a leading fashionable portrait painter. He inherited the leading and fashionable position of Lely as a prolific exponent of the baroque portrait in England. His famous series of 36 by 28 inch half-length portraits (Kit-cat portraits), named after the Kit-cat Club, whose members were the sitters, decisively influenced the course of 18th-century English portraiture. He was also renowned for the series of portraits of ladies at the royal court, the Hampton Court 'Beauties' 1690-1691.
