Portrait of John Banckes

This 1676 portrait of John Banckes belongs to the period when Kneller had recently established himself in London and was building his clientele beyond the immediate court circle. Banckes was an English gentleman of middling social rank, and his portrait demonstrates the broad social range of Kneller's practice even before he became Principal Painter. Such commissions from the provincial and professional classes formed the financial foundation of his studio.

Banckes is depicted in three-quarter length with the formal but relatively unadorned dress of a prosperous English gentleman. Kneller's early English work here shows his competent face modeling and his facility with the standard portrait formula, without the elaborate drapery of his more exalted commissions.