Richard Maitland (1653–1695), 4th Earl of Lauderdale

This portrait of Richard Maitland, 4th Earl of Lauderdale, depicts a Scottish nobleman imprisoned for his Jacobite sympathies following the Revolution of 1688-89. The Lauderdale family had been central figures in Scottish political life under Charles II and James VII, and their Jacobite loyalties after the Glorious Revolution placed them on the losing side of the constitutional settlement. Richard's imprisonment reflects the severity with which the new Williamite government treated those who maintained loyalty to the deposed Stuart dynasty. Kneller's portrait of this Jacobite prisoner preserves the image of a man whose politics placed him at odds with the order that Kneller himself served as Principal Painter to William III.

The aristocratic portrait renders the Earl with dignified reserve, Kneller's experienced technique capturing the sitter's bearing and character within the conventions of late seventeenth-century Scottish noble portraiture.