Kneller was born in Lubeck, studied with Rembrandt in Amsterdam and by 1676 was working in England as a fashionable portrait painter. He painted seven British monarchs from Charles II to George II (though his portraits of Charles II are not longer in the collection) and in 1715 was the first artist to be made a Baronet (the next was John Everett Millais in 1885).

George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg succeeded to the British throne on 1 August 1714, at the age of 54. Born in Hanover, the son of a minor German prince, his rise to the throne was the result of the ambitions of his father, Ernest-Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1629–98) and the ancestry of his mother, Sophia of the Palatine (1630–1714), granddaughter of James I. He succeeded to the British throne after his mother’s death in June 1714 was closely followed by that of Queen Anne in August of the same year. His arrival in England in September marked only the new King's second visit to his kingdom. Although he had a basic knowledge of English, he preferred conversing in French and regularly returned to his native Hanover, something much criticised by his British subjects.

This portrait is one of several versions of Kneller’s official profile for the coinage marking the beginning of the new reign, painted shortly after the king’s arrival. Like a Roman emperor, the king wears a cape decoratively draped around his armour and is reperesented as ‘Defender of the Faith’, ready to champion, as he had in the past, the Protestant cause. Kneller received payment of £20 for a portrait 'for the coin' in May 1715, though this may have been for the original of this design, this being in all probability a studio replica.

Text adapted from The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760, London, 2014