Lady Anne Vaughan, Duchess of Bolton (d.1751)

This portrait of Lady Anne Vaughan, Duchess of Bolton, depicts a member of the Welsh aristocracy who married into one of England's most powerful families. The Powlett Dukes of Bolton were among the great Whig magnates of the early eighteenth century, and the Duchess's portrait reflects her position within a family whose political and social importance Kneller documented through multiple commissions. The Welsh connection, through the Vaughan family of Carmarthenshire, demonstrates the integration of the Welsh gentry into the English aristocratic establishment that accelerated after the Acts of Union. The portrait's formal elegance is typical of Kneller's female portraiture in his final decade.

The duchess is portrayed with the fashionable elegance expected of her rank, Kneller's practiced studio rendering the elaborate court costume and idealized features within the standard conventions for aristocratic female portraiture.