The brothers came to England in 1676, and won the patronage of the
Duke of Monmouth. He was introduced to, and painted a portrait of,
Charles II. In England, Kneller concentrated almost entirely on portraiture. In the spirit of enterprise, he founded a studio which churned out portraits on an almost industrial scale, relying on a brief sketch of the face with details added to a formulaic model, aided by the fashion for gentlemen to wear full
wigs. His portraits set a pattern that was followed until
William Hogarth and
Joshua Reynolds. Nevertheless, he established himself as a leading portrait artist in England. When Sir
Peter Lely died in 1680, Kneller was jointly appointed
Principal Painter in Ordinary with
John Riley to the Crown by Charles II. For about 20 years (–1702) he lived at No. 1617 The Great Piazza,
Covent Garden. Kneller's studio manager was
Edward Byng. In the 1690s, Kneller painted the
Hampton Court Beauties depicting the most glamorous ladies-in-waiting of the Royal Court for which he received, in 1692, his
knighthood from
William III. In 1695, he received, in the presence of the King, an honorary Doctorate of Law from the
University of Oxford. In 1700, he was created a Knight of the
Holy Roman Empire by Emperor
Leopold I. He produced a series of "
Kit-cat" portraits of 48 leading politicians and men of letters, members of the
Kit-Cat Club.
Richard Steele, and
Alexander Pope. On the landing in
Horsham Museum in
West Sussex hang works of art from the museum's extensive painting collection, featuring a large 18th-century portrait of
Charles Eversfield and his wife, of Denne Park House. ==Personal life==