I am Godfrey Kneller, I was a German-British painter. The leading portraitist in England during the late Stuart and early Georgian eras, I served as court painter to successive English and British monarchs, including Charles II of England and George I of Great Britain. I also painted scientists such as Isaac Newton, foreign monarchs such as Louis XIV of France and visitors to England such as Michael Shen Fu-Tsung. A pioneer of the kit-cat portrait, I was also commissioned by William III of England to paint eight "Hampton Court Beauties" to match a similar series of paintings of Charles II's "Windsor Beauties" that had been painted by my predecessor as court painter, Peter Lely.