John Smith after Sir Godfrey Kneller

Mrs Vos and child

10 x 13.5 inches

Three-quarter length portrait engraved by J. Smith after the painting by Kneller and published in London in 1692.

Mrs. Vos is depicted in a rural landscape with a garden hoe, a garland of flowers and a small child. She wears a bracelet on her left wrist which incorporates a miniature portrait of the artsit, Sir Godfrey Kneller. Mrs. Vos was the wife of a Quaker from Austin Friars but more infamously was both the model and mistress of Kneller (hence the miniature). Mrs. Vos was certainly very beautiful and, at the time, Kneller was considered to be rather handsome himself. There was rumour of a child from the relationship and it seems quite probable that this print depicts Kneller's lover and their child.