Portrait of Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester

Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, was a leading Tory politician and statesman who served as First Lord of the Treasury under Charles II and was closely associated with the Stuart court. As the son of the powerful Earl of Clarendon and brother-in-law of James II, Hyde was at the center of the political world Kneller documented through portraiture. The 1685 date places this portrait in the final year of Charles II's reign, when Hyde's political influence was at its height.

Rochester is shown in the formal court robes or dress appropriate to his political eminence. Kneller's characteristically confident drapery painting fills much of the lower composition, while the face is rendered with direct, unidealized observation consistent with his best male portraits.