Michael Dahl

The Swedish-born artist Michael Dahl worked primarily in London as a portrait painter from the end of the 17^th century and into the first half of the 18^th century. A rival of Godfrey Kneller, Dahl favored a soft and sensitive approach to capturing the features of his sitters, and sometimes paid lavish attention to the fabrics of their costumes with particular brilliance. A prolific artist of great versatility, Dahl established a strong network of royal and fashionable clientele, counting among his patrons Queen Anne, Prince George of Denmark, the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, and Charles Seymour (Duke of Somerset), among many others, the latter of whom commissioned from the artist his famous set of seven beauties today at Petworth House. 

According to an inscription on the reverse of this canvas, this portrait may depict Frances Bristow of Micheldever, fifth daughter of Robert Bristow and Katharine Woolley. In 1719, she married Colonel John Warde, though she died 8 years later in 1727 at age 31. In 1731, her husband purchased Squerryes Court in Kent where several portraits of his late wife adorned the walls, including one full-length portrait by Dahl that hung over the mantelpiece in the library.¹ Other known portraits of Frances Bristow, or Lady Warde, include an equestrian portrait of her by John Wootton(2) and a full-length portrait of her by William Aikman(3), both still today at Squerryes Court.

1.  Surrey Archaeological Collections Relating to the History and Antiquities of the County, vol. IX, London 1888, pp. 408-409.

2. Oil on canvas, 49.5 by 53 inches. https://photoarchive.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/objects/410467/equestrian-portrait-of-mrs-warde-frances-bristow-mrs-lady

3. Oil on canvas, 88 by 56.75 inches. https://photoarchive.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/objects/472744/portrait-of-frances-bristow-mrs-lady--warde--16971727