Sir Thomas Parker (1666–1732)

This 1715 portrait of Sir Thomas Parker depicts the judge who would serve as Lord Chief Justice of England and later as Lord Chancellor — Lord Macclesfield — before his fall from power following his conviction for corruption in 1725. Parker's legal career reached the highest offices in the English legal system but ended in disgrace when it was revealed that he had been selling masterships in Chancery for personal profit. Kneller's portrait of 1715 captures him a decade before this fall, at the beginning of his ascent to the highest judicial offices. The portrait preserves the image of a capable lawyer whose ambition eventually exceeded his integrity.

The judicial portrait presents Parker in the robes and wig of high legal office, Kneller's experienced rendering of judicial costume lending appropriate gravity and authority to the composition.