Page:Hutton, William Holden - Hampton Court (1897).djvu/171

Rh which the "Beauties" now hang, there are three great portraits of the King. Kneller paints him, as part of an allegorical triumph of Peace and Plenty, in his worst possible style. William ineffectually apes a Roman general, but his stern, haggard face is impressive if unpleasing. The other pictures—his embarking from Holland in 1688, and his landing at Brixham—are historical compositions, accurate in detail but uninteresting in result.

Much more striking than these, and in the same room, is the swarthy and passionate countenance of Peter the Great. It is one of the most impressive portraits Kneller ever painted. The armour and the drapery are subservient, not, as so often, the main features of the composition. The stupendous originality of the character looks out of the eves. It is the face of a man who can command thousands, and who has no scruple. This picture was painted for the King, who feared and suffered rather than admired the great Czar.

The collection of "Beauties" may serve to emphasise the fact that William and Mary used Hampton Court as a home rather than a house of state. They planted, they builded, they worked; but the history of the reign gives few important political events that occurred in their favourite retreat. Kensington and Whitehall were for business; Hampton Court was for rest.

After Mary's death William was little there, till the burning of Whitehall in January 1698 brought him back again. His last years, varied by distractions of