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Portrait of William Congreve (1670-1729)

Maker

(artist)
1646-1723

Title

Portrait of William Congreve (1670-1729)

Date of Production

1709

Medium

black and white chalk on rough brown laid paper, laid down

Dimensions

Height: 38.2 cm
Width: 25.3 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.1399

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords





Related Works

Portrait of William Congreve

Label Text

This is a working drawing made in preparation for an oil painting, one of a series of members of the Kit-cat club. For such utilitarian purposes, Kneller used cheap brown paper, made from poor quality fibres such as hemp; the finer white paper used for more finished drawings was made from linen and cotton. The style of this drawing is determined by the choice of paper, since its rough surface permitted only broad, sweeping strokes; finer lines were impossible. Its coloure also provided a middle tone against which to balance the darks and lights of black and white chalks.

Notes

This a study for the portrait of William Congreve by Godfrey Kneller, dated 1709, now in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Kneller, born in Germany and trained in Amsterdam, became the court painter of Charles II in 1680 after the death of the prominent portrait painter Sir Peter Lely.

Provenance

purchased by Colnaghi (London) c. 1916-1920 [based on inventory number inscribed on the verso]; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d. (£7.8); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Sir Godfrey Kneller, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1971-1972

Old Masters from the Witt Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 01/01/1943-01/05/1943

catalogue untraced, San Francisco, 1938 ...More

British Art Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 06/01/1934-10/03/1934

catalogue untraced, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1924 ...Less

Literature

Stewart, J. Douglas, 'Some Portrait Drawings by Michael Dahl and Sir James Thornhill' in 'Master Drawings', Spring 1973 - 34-45+86+102
p. 37
fig. 3
see attached PDF

Sir Godfrey Kneller, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1971-1972
cat. no. 46
Illus. repr.

Stewart, J.D., 'Some Drawings by Sir Godfrey Kneller' in 'The Connoisseur', July 1964
pp. 192ff
pl. 3 ...More

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 29

British Art Exhibition: commemorative catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1934
cat. no. 1146
no. 546
pl. CXLIII ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none evident though rough quality of paper makes it difficult to be sure.

Inscription: Recto: upper right corner, green crayon: "23". Verso (backing sheet): lower centre edge, graphite, underlined: "3"; lower right corner, graphite, Colnaghi number, hard to read: "A1764".

Collector's mark: Verso (backing sheet): lower left corner, stamped in black: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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