| Portrait of James Stanhope | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Godfrey Kneller |
| Year | c.1710 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, portrait |
| Dimensions | 91 cm× 71 cm(35.9 in× 27.9 in) |
| Location | National Portrait Gallery, London |
Portrait of James Stanhope is a 1710 portrait painting by the artist Godfrey Kneller of the British soldier and politician James Stanhope. [1]
Stanhope was a Whig Member of Parliament and general. He served in the War of the Spanish Succession and led the British Capture of Minorca in 1708. In 1710 he was prominent in the Allied victory at the Battle of Zaragoza and the capture of Madrid, but following the Allied withdrawal later the same year he was isolated and forced to surrender at the Battle of Brihuega. [2]
Stanhope subsequently went on to become a leading British statesman following the Hanoverian Succession. Appointed Southern Secretary he took a leading role in foreign affairs due to his closeness with George I. Following the Whig Split of 1717 he became the effective leader of the government. He died in 1720 while defending his conduct over the South Sea Bubble and was succeeded by Robert Walpole.
The work was completed around 1710. It was one of the series of Kit Cat portraits featuring members of the London-based Kit Kat Club. Stanhope is shown in the fashionable periwig of the era. It is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London. [3]
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Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet was a German-born British painter. The leading portraitist in England during the late Stuart and early Georgian eras, he served as court painter to successive English and British monarchs, including Charles II of England and George I of Great Britain. Kneller also painted scientists such as Isaac Newton, foreign monarchs such as Louis XIV of France and visitors to England such as Michael Shen Fu-Tsung. A pioneer of the kit-cat portrait, he was also commissioned by William III of England to paint eight "Hampton Court Beauties" to match a similar series of paintings of Charles II's "Windsor Beauties" that had been painted by Kneller's predecessor as court painter, Peter Lely.
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