1649-1723 Dutch (Resident in UK) Sir Godfrey Kneller Galleries was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to British monarchs from Charles II to George I. His major works include The Chinese Convert (1687); a series of four portraits of Isaac Newton painted at various junctures of the latter's life; a series of ten reigning European monarchs, including King Louis XIV of France; over 40 "Kit-cat portraits" of members of the Kit-Cat Club; and ten "beauties" of the court of William III, to match a similar series of ten beauties of the court of Charles II painted by his predecessor as court painter, Sir Peter Lely. Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Kneller's Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Kneller's finest portraits.Kneller was born Gottfried Kniller in L??beck, Germany. Kneller studied in Leiden, but became a pupil of Ferdinand Bol and Rembrandt in Amsterdam. He worked in Rome and Venice in the early 1670s, painting historical subjects and portraits, and later moved to Hamburg. He came to England in 1674, at the invitation of the Duke of Monmouth, accompanied by his brother, John Zacharias Kneller, who was an ornamental painter. He was introduced to, and painted a portrait of, Charles II. In England, Kneller concentrated almost entirely on portraiture. 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. His portraits set a pattern that was followed until William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds. Nevertheless, he established himself as a leading portrait artist in England. When Sir Peter Lely died in 1680, Kneller was appointed Principal Painter to the Crown by Charles II. In the 1690s, Kneller painted the Hampton Court Beauties depicting the most glamorous ladies-in-waiting of the Royal Court for which he received his knighthood from William III. He produced a series of "Kit-cat" portraits of 48 leading politicians and men of letters, members of the Kit-Cat Club. Created a baronet by King George I, he was also head of the Kneller Academy of Painting and Drawing 1711-1716 in Great Queen Street, London. His paintings were praised by Whig luminaries such as John Dryden, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and Alexander Pope. Kneller died of fever in 1723 and his remains were interred in Twickenham Church (he was a churchwarden there when the 14th century nave collapsed in 1713 and was involved in the plans for its reconstruction). The site of the house he built in 1709 in Whitton near Twickenham is now occupied by the mid-19th century Kneller Hall, home of the Royal Military School of Music   Related Paintings of Sir Godfrey Kneller :. | Portrait of Sir Jonathan Trelawny | John Locke | Portrait of Charles Howard | Portrait of Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg | Portrait of King William III of England (1650-1702) in State Robes |
Related Artists:
Thomas Allom
1804-1872 was an English artist, topographical illustrator and architect, and one of the founder members of what eventually became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).He was born in Lambeth, south London, the son of a coachman from Suffolk. In 1819, he was apprenticed to architect Francis Goodwin for whom he worked until 1826. He then studied at the Royal Academy School. His designs for churches shown at exhibitions in 1824 and 1827 aroused considerable interest, and he later designed many buildings in London (including a workhouse in Marloes Road, Kensington (1847), the Church of Christ in Highbury in 1850, the Church of St Peter's in Notting Hill in 1856, and the elegant Ladbroke Estate in west London). Further afield his works included workhouses at Calne, Wiltshire (1847) and in Liverpool, design of the William Brown Library also in Liverpool, (1857-1860), and the tower of St. Leodegarius Church, Basford near Nottingham (1860).
marie suzanne giroust roslin
Marie-Suzanne Giroust, född 9 mars 1734 i Paris, Frankrike, död 31 augusti 1772 i Paris, var en fransk konstnär, i huvudsak verksam inom pastellmåleri. Hon var gift med den svenske porträttmålaren Alexander Roslin från 1759 till sin död. Dotter till Barthelemy Giroust och Marie Suzanne Leroy. När Giroust var sju år gammal, dog hennes far som var juvelerare. Fyra år senare dog även hennes mor, och hon flyttade in hos släktingar. Arvet efter fadern gav henne möjlighet att uppta målarstudier. Hon inledde sina studier hos Maurice Quentin de La Tour, men det var hos Joseph-Marie Vien hon kom att finna sig tillrätta. I Viens atelj?? träffade hon 1752 Alexander Roslin och blev förälskad. Girousts förmyndare kunde dock inte acceptera den svenske målaren som blivande make, då han var fattig och protestant.[1] Paret kämpade för sin kärlek, och Giroust vägrade att träffa de friare som hennes förmyndare föreslog för henne.[1] Efter medling av bland andra Roslins vän och beskyddare, Comte de Caylus, kunde Roslin och Giroust gifta sig, den 5 januari 1759. Paret Roslin fick mellan 1760 och 1772 sex barn, tre döttrar och tre söner, varav två döttrar och två söner nådde vuxen ålder. Alexander Roslin erkände offentligen sin hustrus talang som konstnär, och han hävdade att hon var en skickligare pastellmålare än han själv. Giroust invaldes 1770 i den franska konstakademin, Acad??mie royale. 1771 utställde hon sitt porträtt av abb?? Lemonnier, som fick mycket beröm. Hon måladet i pastell. Marie-Suzanne Giroust avled i bröstcancer i slutet av augusti 1772.
Osthaus, Edmund Henry
American, 1858-1928