Kneller, SIR GODFREY

Kneller, SIR GODFREY, a portrait-painter, was born at Lübeck on 8th August 1646, and learned painting under Rembrandt and Ferdinand Bol. Whilst studying further in Italy he chose historical subjects, but afterwards gave himself entirely to portrait-painting. In 1676 he went to London, and, on the death of Sir Peter Lely in 1680, was appointed court-painter to Charles II. This office he retained during the reign of James II., and continued to fill it after the Revolution. In 1691 William III. knighted him, and in 1715 George I. made him a baronet. He died at Twickenham, 7th November 1723, and a monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey, with a highly laudatory inscription by Pope. Kneller's best-known productions are the 'Beauties of Hampton Court' (painted by order of William III.), his portraits of the 'Kit-Cat Club,' and of nine sovereigns (Charles II. to George I. of England, Louis XIV., Peter the Great, and the Emperor Charles VI.). He painted avowedly for the love of money, and hence never did justice to the undoubted talent he possessed. His reputation was due to his rapid brush and his quick eye for likeness, and to the fact that there was nobody to dispute supremacy with him. For Kneller Hall, his house at Twickenham, see BAND (MILITARY).