John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722)
after Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1700 - 1775
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1245 x 1003 mm (49 x 39 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486281
Caption
The sitter in this portrait was formerly identified as James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, because of an inscription on the painting identifying him as such. This original identity as the 2nd Duke of Ormonde has been questioned because he does not resemble other portraits of Ormonde by Kneller in the Oxford Examination Schools (c.1695), in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (1713), at Hardwick or in the National Portrait Gallery (a reputed Ormonde portrait, of which there is copy at Kingston Lacy).
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), after Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646/9 - London 1723). A three-quarter-length portrait, turned to the left, dressed in armour and wearing a full-bottomed wig, and a long white hanging cravat. His right hand rests on a baton, his left hand on his hip.
Provenance
Recorded at Petworth in 1775 as James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde. Thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (acquired in lieu of tax by HM Treasury in 1956 and subsequently transferred to the National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
James Butler / Duke of Ormond (inscribed front bottom right corner)
Makers and roles
after Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723), artist