Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset (1688–1765), Courtier

This 1719 portrait of Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, depicts one of the grandees of early Georgian politics who served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Lord President of the Council under successive Hanoverian governments. Kneller's portrait of Dorset in 1719 captures him during the consolidation of Hanoverian power after the failed Jacobite rising of 1715, when the Whig grandees who had supported the new dynasty were securing their rewards. The Sackville family's great house at Knole in Kent was one of the largest private houses in England, and the Duke's portrait documents the connection between architectural ambition and political power that characterized the great Whig magnates of the early eighteenth century.

The ducal portrait presents Dorset with the aristocratic grandeur appropriate to his rank and political importance, Kneller's experienced studio rendering the rich costume and dignified pose with practiced efficiency.