Portrait of a Lady, Mary Sackville, Countess of Dorset (1669–1691) C.1690; Studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), Oil on Canvas Painting

This striking portrait depicts the celebrated seventeenth century court beauty, Mary Sackville (née Compton), Countess of Dorset (1669-1691) wearing a gold dress and ermine-trimmed cloak. Painted circa 1690, its extravagant grand manner is distinctive of Kneller’s work from this period, where the use of full-length swaggering poses and a heightened sense of movement and physical presence were employed. Several versions exist particularly as she was a renowned court beauty. Images of well-known society individuals were in demand and the portrait studios thereby created several duplicates, and on occasion, many variations of them. One such example is a painting, signed by Kneller, at Knole Park in Kent, home of the sitter and her husband (see photo), and is an almost full duplicate of our painting.

The Countess was Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Mary II and one of the Hampton Court Beauties, painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller for Queen Mary. Her father was James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton, and her was Mary Noel, daughter of Baptist Noel, 3rd Viscount Campden. In 1685 she married Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset and 1st Earl of Middlesex (died 1706). Their only son, Lionel Cranfield Sackville, became seventh Earl of Dorset on his father’s death, and later first Duke. Charles and Mary also had one daughter, Lady Mary Sackville (1688 – 1705), who married Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort.

Charles was born during the Civil War, and was the son of Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset (1622–1677) and Lady Frances Cranfield, sister and heiress of the 3rd Earl of Middlesex, to whose estates he succeeded in 1674, being created Baron Cranfield, of Cranfield in the County of Middlesex, and Earl of Middlesex in 1675. Three years later, on the death of his father in 1677, he became 6th Earl of Dorset and inherited Knole. Thus began the assembly at Copt Hall (and later, at Knole) of the outstanding collection of 17th-century furniture, textiles and portraits that compensated for the losses of the Civil War and that are now on public display.

In 1690 Mary II commissioned Kneller to paint a series ‘of the principal Ladies attending upon her Majesty, or who were frequently in her Retinue’. A set of eight portraits were aptly named The Hampton Court Beauties and were the most glamorous ladies from the court of William III, one such lady was Mary Compton, our sitter. Still to this day they remain at Hampton Court.

Our sitter died of smallpox in 1691, aged 22 years. It was recorded that Queen Mary was deeply grieved at her loss, knowing what a loyal and clever friend she was.

Inscribed on verso “Countess of Dorset, Daughter of James Earl of Northampton”, a Christies sale stencil “214 YO”, “5th Aug 1977”, and “lot 152”.

Held in a period gilded frame.

Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) was one of the most prominent portrait painters in England at the end of the seventeenth century and in 1715 was the first artist to be made a Baronet.

He was born in Germany but trained in Amsterdam and studied in Italy before moving to England in 1676. Towards the end of the century he became the leading portrait painter in Britain and the court painter to English and British monarchs from Charles II to George I. His over 40 "Kit-cat portraits" and the ten "beauties" of the court of William III are most noteworthy. He ran a large, busy and successful studio in London and employed many assistants thereby establishing a routine that enabled a great number of works to be produced. His name became synonymous with British portraiture at the time and he rose to great notoriety; and there were countless other artists that strove to emulate his style. He died of a fever in London in 1723 and a memorial was erected in Westminster Abbey.

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