George II (1683–1760)

This portrait of George II connects Kneller's practice to the Hanoverian dynasty across multiple decades — this version likely postdating his earlier portrait of George when Prince of Wales. George II became the last British monarch to lead troops in battle at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, and his long reign from 1727 to 1760 witnessed the expansion of British colonial power in India and America alongside political transformation at home. Kneller's multiple portraits of successive monarchs across long careers — William III, Anne, George I, and George II — provide a continuous royal portrait record that documented the constitutional transformation of British monarchy from Stuart to Hanoverian.

The royal portrait presents George with military bearing and regal authority, Kneller's studio rendering the formal costume and confident pose within well-established conventions of monarchical image-making.