English: Circle of Sir Godfrey Kneller

Portrait of James Fitzjames, 1st Duke of Berwick (1670–1734), three-quarter-length, wearing a suit of armour, a white jabot and holding a baton

oil on canvas

125.1 x 104.2 cm.; 49¼ x 41 in.

James Fitzjames, 1st Duke of Berwick, was a leading military commmander in the service of Louis XIV and illegitimate son of James, Duke of York, later James II and VII (1633–1701) and Arabella Churchill (1649–1730), daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, and the elder sister of John Churchill, first duke of Marlborough. He is known for having played a significant role in the early Jacobite Risings after his father had been deposed and for participating in the Battle of the Boyne. Berwick married twice and his descendants were the French Ducs de Fitz-James and the Spanish Duques de Liria, later Dukes of Alba.

The present work is a copy after the portrait by Godfrey Kneller in the collection of the Duke of Alba, Liria Palace, Madrid.