Samuel Sandys (1695–1770), 1st Baron Sandys of Ombersley

This portrait of Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys of Ombersley, depicts the Worcestershire politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Sir Robert Walpole and was a key figure in the parliamentary opposition that eventually brought Walpole down. Sandys's political career spanned the transition from early Hanoverian factional politics to the more stable party structures of Walpole's long ministry, and his eventual elevation to the peerage reflected the political rewards available to those who navigated Hanoverian parliamentary politics successfully. The portrait's connection to a Worcestershire aristocratic family reflects the provincial dimension of English political culture.

The political portrait renders Sandys with the authoritative bearing expected of a parliamentarian, Kneller's broad brushwork capturing the sitter's confident demeanor within standard portrait conventions.