How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

Algernon Capel was a soldier and a courtier, who served under William III as a general. He also sat in the House of Lords, and was Lord-Lieutenant first of Dorset then of Hertfordshire from 1692 until his death, a post which made him responsible for local militia. Capel also acted as Constable of the Tower of London, although both his father and grandfather had been locked up there. Capel's father was imprisoned in the Tower in 1683 on suspicion of involvement in the Rye House Plot, an attempt to kill Charles II and his brother James. Before he could be tried he was found in his cell "dead and wallowing in blood", having presumably cut his own throat.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Algernon Capel, 2nd Earl of Essex

Date

1705

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 91.4 x W 71.1 cm

Accession number

3207

Acquisition method

Given by the Art Fund, 1945. On long-term loan to Beningbrough Hall, Yorkshire

Work type

Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

View venue

Artist or maker

Godfrey Kneller

1646–1723

View profile

Sir Christopher Musgrave (1688–1736), 5th Baronet of Eden Hall Fairfax House
Self Portrait Victoria and Albert Museum
The Moroccan Ambassador Chiswick House
Catherine Sedley (1657–1717), Later Countess of Dorchester English Heritage, Kenwood
Robert Nelson (1656–1715) Examination Schools, University of Oxford
Portrait of a Lady in a Red Dress Mount Edgcumbe House
Charles Mordaunt (1658–1735), 3rd Earl of Peterborough and 1st Earl of Monmouth English Heritage, Marble Hill House
2,209 more