A fine quality portrait traditionally said to be of Arnold Joost van Keppel, First Earl of Albemarle c.1705.... I am not convinced.Regardless of the sitter''s identity it is an excellent painting of a good-looking young man.Oil on canvas; the portrait was originally oval and slightly larger. In the early 19th century there was a fashion for portraits to be the same size and framed uniformly. Many were adapted at this time. MICHAEL DAHL (1659-1743) was born in Stockholm; after studying in Paris, Rome and Frankfurt he settled in London in 1689. He soon became the best patronised portrait painter in England after Kneller. He was much employed at the Court painting many portraits; a great patron of the 1690s was the Duke of Somerset, for whom he painted the series of portraits of Court ladies known as the ''Petworth Beauties''.His style is extremely close to Kneller but his interpretation of character is less brash and more human. He has a quieter but somehow more understan...