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Description: | Acquisition: bequest by George Clarke, 1736 Description: Whole length, standing facing viewer, head turned slightly to left.; long light brown wig; lace cravat; full white sleeves with lace ruffles; in coronation robes: blue velvet mantle bordered with gold, and lined and edged with ermine, over long coat of the same materials with gold cape and long open sleeves; belted; silver silk breeches and white stockings, buff leather shoes with diamond buckles of different shapes; collar with George and garter of the Order of the Garter; sword; his left hand holding fold of mantle; his right resting on belt; crown and orb on table to right covered with red patterned cloth; to left two fluted columns, trees and cloudy sky behind. Bequeathed to the University by the politician and architect, George Clarke, together with a companion portrait of Queen Mary II (OP I): 'Georgius Clarke L.L.D. & Coll. Ômn. Ant: Soc. Bibliotheca Bodleiana, quam beneficis suis saepius ornaverat moriens legavit Effigies Principum Gulielmi & Mariae' (Registrum Benefactorum, for the year 1737, Library Records b.904, Bodleian Library, II, p.165) The prime version of this state portrait, painted by Kneller in 1690, is in the Royal Collection. Commissioned to commemorate their dual coronation in 1689, Kneller's portraits of William III and Mary II were intended to be hung together. Identically framed, the pair of portraits bequeathed together to the University now face each other at the top of the main staircase in the Examination Schools. They hung previously in the Bodleian Library, where they were seen by George Scharf, then Keeper of the National Portrait Gallery, who noted: 'same as pictures in St James's Palace. very good.' (G. Scharf, 'Trustee Sketchbooks', IX, 1866, p.79, National Portrait Gallery Archives, London) The colours, especially the large areas of blue and red, have now sunk, giving both portraits a faded, lacklustre appearance. Fewer copies of Mary's portrait are known than those recorded for William (see O. Millar, 1, p.143, no.335). George Clarke, the donor of both portraits in the Examination Schools, was Burgess (or Member of Parliament) for the University in 1685, and again between 1717 and 1734. He was secretary at war, 1689-1702, and accompanied the King to the battle of the Boyne. He returned to England in 1691and acted as adviser to Mary, regent in her husband's absence, until her death in 1695. Clarke owned a substantial collection of paintings and books, many of which he gave to the University and its constituent Colleges. He sat to Kneller for a double portrait with George, Prince of Denmark and Duke of Cumberland, in 1705 (All Souls College; see Lane Poole, II, p.189, no.33) External Link: Oxford Portraits website | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=874... | Go to resource |
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