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Description: | This sitter is traditionally known as Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744). Sarah was famous for her influential friendship with Queen Anne, and for being the wife of the soldier and statesman John Churchill, whom she married in 1678. The sitter holds a lock of her hair, which alludes to Renaissance images of the goddess Venus. The spaniel puppy she holds in her right hand probably refers to marital fidelity. These two themes suggest that the picture relates to the sitter's marriage, and raises the possibility that it is one half of a pair of portraits, the other being of her husband. | Subjects: | Sarah Duchess of Marlborough); animal (dog) portrait (Jennings | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Closterman, John (German painter, 1660-1711, active in England) Æ Attributed to circle of Previously attributed to circle of Dahl, Michael, I (Swedish painter, born 1656 or 1659, died 1743, active in England) | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8573... | Go to resource |
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