Circle of Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bart. (1646?-1723). Size: 57 1/2 wide by 92 1/2 inches. Accession O0076. A similar painting is in the Royal Collection.
In contrast with the state of the judiciary under Charles II and James II, "it is one of the glories of the Revolution [of 1689] that it forms a new era in our judicial history. Great was the immediate change in the administration of justice. The bench was no longer disgraced by coarse and savage brutality or by servile and courtly obsequiousness: the principles of law were more strictly defined, and its practice more decently conducted: they were no longer any violent dismissals or convenient political resignations; and the judges succeeded each other in quiet independence, scarcely ever leaving the seats they occupied until incapacitated by infirmity or removed by death." (From: Edward Foss, The Judges of England, 1851.)