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.
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group.
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world that was dedicated to portraits.
Charles Jervas was an Irish portrait painter, translator, and art collector of the early 18th century.
John Vanderbank was an English painter who enjoyed a high reputation during the last decade of King George I's reign and remained in high fashion in the first decade of King George II's reign. George Vertue's opinion was that only intemperance and extravagance prevented Vanderbank from being the greatest portraitist of his generation, his lifestyle bringing him into repeated financial difficulties and leading to an early death at the age of only 45.
Sir Peter Lely was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court. He became a naturalised British subject and was knighted in 1679.
Enoch Seeman the Younger was an English painter who was active during the first half of the Georgian era. He was born into a family of painters in Danzig.
The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in the UK and around the world, and to promote British art, culture and history. The GAC now holds over 14,000 works of art in a variety of media, including around 2,500 oil paintings, but also sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, textiles and video works, mainly created by British artists or artist with a strong connection to the UK, from the sixteenth century to the present day. Works are displayed in several hundred locations, including Downing Street, ministerial offices and reception areas in Whitehall, regional government offices in the UK, and diplomatic posts outside the UK.
Sir Lawrence Burnett Gowing was an English artist, writer, curator and teacher. Initially recognised as a portrait and landscape painter, he quickly rose to prominence as an art educator, writer, and eventually, curator and museum trustee. He was described as a prominent member of the "English Establishment". As a student of art history he was largely self-taught.
Willem Wissing, known in England as William Wissing, was a Dutch portrait artist who worked in England.
The title of Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King or Queen of England or, later, Great Britain, was awarded to a number of artists, nearly all mainly portraitists. It was different from the role of Serjeant Painter, and similar to the earlier role of "King's Painter". Other painters, for example Nicholas Hilliard had similar roles with different titles. "Principal Painter in Ordinary", first used for Sir Anthony Van Dyck, became settled as the usual title with John Riley in 1689.
John Riley, or Ryley, was an English portrait painter. He painted portraits of Charles II and James II, and was court painter to William III and Mary II. One of his pupils was Jonathan Richardson.
Bartholomew Dandridge was an English portrait painter.
John Smith was an English mezzotint engraver and print seller. Closely associated with the portrait painter Godfrey Kneller, Smith was one of leading exponents of the mezzotint medium during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was regarded among first English-born artists to receive international recognition, along the younger painter William Hogarth.
Thomas Gibson was an English portrait painter and copyist, notable as the teacher of George Vertue. He was born and died in London.
Hamlet Winstanley (1698–1756) was an English painter, engraver and art agent. As a painter, he was mainly active as a portraitist and copyist.
Portrait of Spencer Compton is a c. 1710 portrait painting of the English politician Spencer Compton by the German-born British artist Godfrey Kneller.
Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren is a 1711 portrait painting by the German-born British artist Godfrey Kneller of the English architect Christopher Wren. Wren, a polymath, is best known for his design of St Paul's Cathedral along with multiple other buildings in the English Baroque style. It was painted during the reign of Queen Anne, when the cathedral that Wren dad designed many years earlier was nearing completion. He is shown as a veteran, established figure at the age of seventy nine. His right hand holds a pair of compasses and rests on a plan of St Paul's.
