Born Gottfried Kniller in Lübeck, Germany. He was a pupil of Ferdinand Bol, and probably Rembrandt for a brief period in the 1660s. Spent 1672-1675 in Rome and Venice, briefly returned to Lübeck and finally settled in England in 1676. Here he was highly successful and ran a huge studio producing replicas and copies. His high Baroque manner set the style for the next decade. Knighted in 1692 and made a Baronet by Gerorge I in 1715. (Andrew Wilton, The Swagger Portrait, London, 1992, p. 228)