Michael Dahl (Stockholm 1659-1743 London)

Dateable to c. 1715-20, this is the last of four known self-portraits by the Swedish-born Dahl who was the leading rival to Sir Godfrey Kneller in late Stuart and early Georgian England. The earliest surviving example is that dated 1691 in the National Portrait Gallery, London, showing the artist three-quarter-length, with a bust of the Venus de Medici, and described by the late Sir Oliver Millar as Dahl’s masterpiece.