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Lot Essay
The sitter was the daughter of William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland (1649-1709). She married in 1691/2 Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex (1670-1709/10). She married secondly in 1714, the Hon. Sir Conyers D'Arcy (d. 1758), second surviving son of Conyers D'Arcy, 2nd Earl of Holdernesse.
This picture and the following three lots are based on full-lengths in Kneller's Hampton Court Beauties series, in the Royal Collection. Painted for Queen Mary II, and probably a conscious imitation of Lely's Windsor Beauties, these were described by Defoe as 'the principal Ladies attending upon her Majesty, or who were frequently in their Retinue.' (See Oliver Millar, Tudor Stuart and early Georgian Pictures in the Royal Collection, London, 1963, text volume, pp. 146-8, nos. 353 (Countess of Dorset), 354 (Countess of Essex), 355 (Countess of Peterborough) and 356 (Countess of Ranelagh). A mezzotint by J. Smith of a three-quarter-length version of the portrait of Lady Essex, painted c. 1690-5, is recorded (J. Douglas Stewart, Sir Godfrey Kneller and the English Baroque Portrait, Oxford, 1983, p.104, nos. 259-60).
This picture and the following three lots are based on full-lengths in Kneller's Hampton Court Beauties series, in the Royal Collection. Painted for Queen Mary II, and probably a conscious imitation of Lely's Windsor Beauties, these were described by Defoe as 'the principal Ladies attending upon her Majesty, or who were frequently in their Retinue.' (See Oliver Millar, Tudor Stuart and early Georgian Pictures in the Royal Collection, London, 1963, text volume, pp. 146-8, nos. 353 (Countess of Dorset), 354 (Countess of Essex), 355 (Countess of Peterborough) and 356 (Countess of Ranelagh). A mezzotint by J. Smith of a three-quarter-length version of the portrait of Lady Essex, painted c. 1690-5, is recorded (J. Douglas Stewart, Sir Godfrey Kneller and the English Baroque Portrait, Oxford, 1983, p.104, nos. 259-60).