The Hampton Court Beauties are a series of portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller, commissioned by Queen Mary II of England depicting the most glamorous ladies from the court of William III. They adorn the state rooms of King William III at Hampton Court Palace. Hampton Court also houses the so-called Windsor Beauties by Sir Peter Lely, depicting the most beautiful ladies of the court of King Charles II of England, a generation before. The Hampton Court Beauties are of a plainer, less erotic style reflecting the change in opinion towards women towards the latter half of the seventeenth century.
Read more about Hampton Court Beauties: The Hampton Court Beauties
Famous quotes containing the words hampton, court and/or beauties:
“I have always thought of sophistication as rather a feeble substitute for decadence.”
—Christopher Hampton (b. 1946)
“Fortunately for those who pay their court through such foibles, a fond mother, though, in pursuit of praise for her children, the most rapacious of human beings, is likewise the most credulous; her demands are exorbitant; but she will swallow any thing.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)
“For beauties from worth arise
Are like the grace of deities,”
—Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)