The Hampton Court Beauties are a series of eight portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller, commissioned by Queen Mary II, [1] depicting the most glamorous ladies from her court. They adorn the state rooms of King William III at Hampton Court Palace.
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They were probably originally commissioned to hang in the "water room" at the palace; however, after his wife's death in 1694, William III moved them to "the eating room downstairs" where they currently hang. [1]
Hampton Court also houses the Windsor Beauties by Sir Peter Lely, depicting the most beautiful ladies from the court of King Charles II, a generation before. However, unlike the Windsor Beauties, the Hampton Court Beauties were not mistresses of the King, but attendants to the Queen. In contrast to the three quarter-sized Windsor Beauties, they are more formally posed, and full length. They are also of a plainer, less erotic style, reflecting a more moralistic society and the desire to "rebrand" the monarchy accordingly. [2]
Later critics such as Hazlitt and Fuseli still found them problematic, Hazlitt describing them as "painted, tawdry". [3] By 1835, the earlier set of "bold meretricious hussies" [a] had been sent from Windsor to join them at the more informal setting of Hampton Court. [4] Both sets were part of the exhibition "The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned" in 2012. [5] [6]
