Portrait of a gentleman, bust-length

Dahl was a pupil of Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) and was favoured by Prince George of Denmark and his wife Princess Anne, but was passed over as Principle Painter to King George I on Kneller's death because, according to a contemporary rumour, he had refused to paint a royal baby. The technique of using black and white chalks on blue paper is typical of Dahl and he adopted from Kneller the practice of making life-size studies of heads as an aid in painting portraits (see L. Stainton and C. White, Drawing in England from Hilliard to Hogarth, London, 1987, p. 208, no. 165.)