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Ad Code: 3
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from Auction House Records.
Portrait of Elizabeth, Duchess of Dorset, full-length, in a white dress with a blue wrap, leaning on a stone pedestal with her left hand, beside a draped curtain
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Please note: Artists not classified as American in our database may have limited biographical data
compared to the extensive information about American artists.
 From Germany, Godfrey Kneller arrived in England in the late 1600s and became noted for his international style of portrait painting, which meant conveying on canvas dignity and a clear sense of rank and grace and refinement. The method was to pose the subject in elaborate costume with hands positioned authoritatively and use subtle underpainting, rich coloration and a "refined patterning of light and shadow" (32) so that "all was fused into a single harmony" (35).
Kneller achieved his portraits by overseeing a studio organized like an assembly line, "enough craftsmen to make a baseball team" (35) He painted only the face of the subject and had assistants including "a periwig expert" who arranged curls around the cheeks, and others who did hats, costumes and lace handerchiefs. Sometimes subjects, especially persons living in the New World, did not pose for these types of portraits but merely sent written descriptions of themselves to Kneller. His style of portrait was popular amongst many persons in England but offensive to Puritans.
Portraits by Kneller made their way to America. His methods of patching together portraits, of 'not painting well but painting a great deal' had much influence on younger artists because it attracted high-paying commissions from persons who wanted to be flattered.
Source:
James Thomas Flexner, 'First Flowers of Our Wilderness', "History of American Painting" |
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