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Matthew Prior
Sir Godfrey Kneller, born 1646 - died 1723 - Enlarge image
Matthew Prior
- Object:
Portrait
- Place of origin:
London, England (painted)
- Date:
ca. 1700 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Sir Godfrey Kneller, born 1646 - died 1723 (painter (artist))
- Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Rev. Alexander Dyce, 1869
- Museum number:
DYCE.64&:1
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, Henrietta Street Room, room 54
Object Type
Portraits of literary figures became increasingly common in the late 17th century.
Subjects Depicted
Matthew Prior (1664-1721) was a famous poet, diplomat and politician, who became a fellow of St John's College Cambridge in 1688. He published translations from Horace and Ovid, and throughout his life wrote poems and essays. Prior was a collector of paintings and prints.
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.
