Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646-1723 London)

Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721), full-length, in a dark coat with a brown mantle, seated by a table

Details

Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646-1723 London)
Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721), full-length, in a dark coat with a brown mantle, seated by a table
with erroneous identifying inscription 'Sheffield Duke of Buckingham and Normanby Earl of Mulgrave Died 1721.' (lower left)
oil on canvas
94 x 60 in. (238.8 x 152.4 cm.)
in a contemporary carved and gilded 'running-pattern' frame

Provenance

Acquired from Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, in 1913, by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray.

Literature

Cowdray Park Catalogue, London, 1919, p. 6, no. 20, as 'John Sheffield' (in the Buck Hall).
C. Anson, A Catalogue of Pictures and Drawings in the Collection of The Viscount Cowdray, London, 1971, p. 4, no. 15, as 'a Gentleman, said to be the Duke of Buckingham' (in the Buck Hall).
J. Douglas Stewart, Sir Godfrey Kneller and the English Baroque Portrait, Oxford, 1983, p. 136, no. 780, as 'Unknown Man (called 'Duke of Buckinghamshire')' and dated c. 1685.
J. Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, London, 2009, p. 34, under 'Doubtful Portraits'.

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Lot Essay

An old label on the reverse reads: '1747 Duke of Buckingham Sir G. Kneller 257 gns'. However, the traditional identification of the sitter as the statesman and author John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, who Gilbert Burnet described as 'a nobleman of learning, and good natural parts, but of no principle', is not accepted by Stewart (op. cit.) and is considered doubtful by John Ingamells (op. cit.). Stewart dates the portrait to circa 1685.

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