Portrait of Queen Anne (1665-1714), when Princess of Denmark, three-quarter-length, in a blue dress with ermine robes, seated in a landscape

The present work is a variation of a portrait in the Royal Collection which was probably intended as a gift from Queen Anne to her sister, Mary II, Queen of Orange (circa 1683; inv. no. 405884). In both, the sitter is painted wearing similarly arranged ermine-trimmed robes, in the same landscape background. This work was completed in 1687, the last year of Wissing’s life. Other similar portraits are also in the collection of Lord Bathurst, Cirencester Park and at Luton Hoo. After training in The Hague, Wissing arrived in England in 1676 where he subsequently studied with Sir Peter Lely. Upon the latter artist’s death in 1680, Wissing took on the majority of the work of Lely’s studio, inheriting much of his royal patronage. Queen Anne and her husband, George of Denmark, became frequent patrons of Wissing.

Anne was the daughter of James II and VII and Anne Hyde. Following James’s deposition in the Glorious Revolution, Mary II and William III became joint sovereigns, and on William’s death in 1702, Anne succeeded him. Upon the Act of Union in 1707, she became the first sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland. Tensions surrounding the line of succession, struggles between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism and war in Europe played heavily against the backdrop of the Queen’s reign.