Portrait of William Cavendish (1673-1729), second Duke of Devonshire, standing three quarter length by a column, in Garter robes

Kneller painted several portraits of William Cavendish, who became second Duke of Devonshire in 1707, see J.D. Stewart, Sir Godfrey Kneller and the English Baroque Portrait, 1983, p.102. The sitter was among the greatest collectors of drawings of his day, his most important acquisition being the purchase in 1723 of a large group of splendid drawings from the collection of Nicolaes Anthoni Flinck of Rotterdam, son of Rembrandt's pupil Govaert Flinck.