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 Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach | Sir Christopher wren | Self-portrait | John, First Duke of Marlborough | James Brydges |
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Karel du jardin
1626-78 Dutch painter, etcher and draughtsman. His father was Chaarles de Jardin (Gardyn; c. 1599-before 1650), a fat-renderer, and his mother was Catalyn Borchout (1588-before 1650). They had at least one other child, Herbert, who must have died by 1651
William Garl Brown
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Giulio Carpioni
(1613 - 29 January 1678) was an Italian painter and etcher of the early Baroque era. Born probably in Venice, Carpioni studied under Alessandro Varotari (il Padovanino) and was also influenced by the work of Simone Cantarini, Carlo Saraceni and Jean Leclerc. He came into contact with Lombard art after a brief visit to Bergamo in 1631. In 1638 he settled in Vicenza and executed most of his work there. He painted history and bacchanals, and also sacred subjects of a small size, many of which are to be seen in the churches in the Venetian states. Paintings by him may be seen in the Galleries of Augsburg, Dresden, Vienna, Modena, and Florence. He was also an etcher; his best plates being St. Anthony of Padua, Christ on the Mount of Olives, The Virgin reading, and The Virgin with Rosary. He died at Verona. Carlo Carpioni, his son, was also a painter. Among his important works are the Apotheosis of the Dolfin family (1647) and the Allegory of the Grimani Family (1651), and altarpiece of Sant'Antonio da Padova, a Virgin and two saints, and a Triumph of Silenus in the Gallerie dell Accademia of Venice. He painted a series of canvases for the Oratory of San Nicola da Tolentino in Vicenza.