Noblemen in a picture gallery

The genre of paintings of picture galleries became popular in The Netherlands, and later also in Germany, from the early 17th Century. While some of the galleries depicted were extant, many of the galleries were in fact imaginary, which is most likely also the case in the present drawing. None of the paintings depicted in the drawing are known today, but three paintings -the portrait of the Duke of Marlborough, Queen Anne, King George- seem to be identical to engravings by John Smith (1654-1743) made after paintings by Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723). The almanac on the cabinet is based on a woodcut of the heraldic device of the Prince-Bishop and Cathedral Chapter of Passau in Bavaria, it shows the coat of arms of the von Harrach family suggesting they commissioned or owned the work. The drawing belonged later to André François Miot, comte de Mélito who was a close ally of Napoleon Bonaparte.