Edith Blake, Lady Phelips (1662-1728)
Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1714 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
762 x 635 mm (30 x 25 in)
Order this imageCollection
Montacute House, Somerset
NT 597939
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Edith Blake, Lady Phelips (1662-1728), by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723), signed and dated 'G Kneller 1714' (GK in monogram). A painted oval portrait of a young woman, half-length to left, gazing at spectator. She has long dark brown hair hanging down her back and wears a purple velvet (?) dress. Niece and heiress of Admiral Blake, she married as his 2nd wife Sir Edward Phelips III (1638-1699). They had three daughters: Ann Phelips (1687-1707) who married her cousin Edward Phelips (1678-1734); on her death Edward married her second daughter Elizabeth Phelips (1689-1750). Her youngest daughter was Edith Phelips (1694-1772) who married Carew Mildmay. Edith, Lady Phelips was, on the death of her husband, appointed executrix with power to manage the property which she did until her death in 1728.
Provenance
On loan from the Phelips family since 1931; purchased with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the V&A Museums and Galleries Commission Purchase Grant Fund in 1989.
Credit line
Montacute House, The Phelips Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Signed and dated: 'G. Kneller 1714' ('GK' in monogram) Recto: Centre left: Lady Phelips / 1714 Gilt tablet affixed to bottom of frame, inscribed in black paint:
Makers and roles
Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723), artist
References
Stewart 1983 J. Douglas Stewart, Sir Godfrey Kneller, Oxford, 1983, p.124, no.575 [unaware of signature]. Montacute House, Somerset, 1991 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, p.62, illus in general view, p.31 "LORD CURZON'S BEDROOM PAINTINGS Edith Blake, Lady Phelips (1662-1728) Niece and heiress of Admiral Robert Blake; married Sir Edward Phelips (1638-99) as he second wife. Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723)." Montacute House, Somerset, 1997 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 1991, revised 1997 , p.62, illus in general view, p.31 "LORD CURZON'S ROOM PAINTINGS Edith Blake, Lady Phelips (1662-1728) Niece and heiress of Admiral Robert Blake; married Sir Edward Phelips (1638-99) as he second wife. Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723)." Montacute House, Somerset, 2004-2006 [The National Trust; Malcolm Rogers] 2000, revised 2004, reprinted 2005, 2006, p.50, illus in general view, p.31 "LORD CURZON'S ROOM PAINTINGS Edith Blake, Lady Phelips (1662-1728) Niece and heiress of Admiral Robert Blake; married Sir Edward Phelips (1638-99) as he second wife. Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723)."