The present portrait of the politician and courtier Sarah Churchill, previously attributed to Kneller is by Adriana Verelst. Verelst, traditionally and successively been erroneously identified as Maria, was the only surviving daughter of Herman Verelst (a portrait painter) and Cecilia Fend, originally from Venice, the exact date and place of her birth uncertain. She was already a successful artist when she married Richard Baker, a widower of St Andrew's Holborn, on 6 June 1717 at St Michael Queenhithe, however within four months, the marriage had broken down.  Baker claimed in court that all of Verelst's property was rightfully his and that she had sold a substantial amount of goods (including pictures) to a local dealer on or about 29 August 1717. He appealed to the court for restitution of his property or compensation. The couple separated and a judgement of 25 November 1718 awarded her an annuity of £40 per annum for life for 'separate maintenance and in lieu and satisfaction of any Demand Right or Title' that she might later claim.

There is no contemporary documentary evidence for the life of Maria Verelst, often described by later authors as the daughter of Herman Verelst, in contrast to that is Adriana Verelst where there is contemporary evidence for birth, marriage, career and death though she is not included in later art histories. It has been argued that Maria Verelst is a misnaming of Adriana Verelst caused by later art dictionary editors expanding abbreviated forms of her name. There is evidence that Verelst received aristocratic and gentry commissions, she painted several works for Welbeck Abbey as well as thirteen portraits for James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (1673-1744), most probably for Cannons House which was completed in 1724. The present portrait was almost certainly painted prior to the death of the Duke of  Marlborough in 1722 and therefore before the portrait of Sarah by Verelst at Blenheim (formerly attributed to Sir Peter Lely), in which she is shown seated in mourning attire.

Sarah Churchill was born on 5 June 1660, probably at Holywell, St Albans, Hertfordshire, the fourth and youngest daughter of Richard Jenyns (c.1618-1668), (or Jennings by later writers) and his wife, Frances Thornhurst (1615-1693); Jenyns was MP for St Albans. In 1673 Sarah was appointed maid of honour to the new Duchess of York, Mary of Modena, and was introduced to Anne, the Duke of York's youngest daughter, five years her junior and as Anne grew older, she became closely attached to Sarah. In 1677 Sarah began to be courted by John Churchill (1650-1722), the couple were married, in secret but with the knowledge of the Duchess of York, during the winter of 1677-8. Her first child, a daughter named Harriet, was born in October 1679 but died two years later, she subsequently bore four more girls, Henrietta (1681-1733), Anne (1683-1716), Elizabeth (1688-1714), and Mary (1689-1751), and two sons, John (1687-1703) and Charles (1690-1692).

Sarah became Lady Churchill when her husband was made a Scottish peer in December 1682, to which James II added an English barony in 1685. Meanwhile her friendship with Anne prospered, and she was made lady of the bedchamber when Anne set up her own establishment on her marriage to Prince George of Denmark in July 1683. Sarah emerged as Anne's closest adviser and was made her groom of the stole in 1685. Anne's dependence on her became well known, and she was cultivated by those who thought her influence the only thing preventing Anne from converting to Catholicism; she was distrusted by James II and his Catholic advisers for that reason. Following the invasion of William of Orange in November 1688, James II ordered Sarah's detention on learning that Churchill had defected to William. Sarah successfully challenged the validity of James's instructions and helped Anne to flee Whitehall at night.

Churchill was rewarded by William III and Mary II with the earldom of Marlborough in April 1689, Sarah thus becoming a countess. Sarah's political sense persuaded Anne to accept the Act of Settlement that permitted William to succeed to the throne should Mary predecease him. Sarah ardently advocated the princess's interest, particularly over the question of her income. Following Marlborough's release, having been imprisoned on suspicion of high treason, in June 1692, Sarah retired from public life; but she continued to advise Anne. She emerged once more at court following the death of Mary II in December 1694, and a public reconciliation with his sister-in-law, Anne, became necessary for William III.

Anne was in love with Sarah, who, for her part, understood very well the immense value of her relationship with the princess and from about 1691 Anne insisted that the aliases Mrs Morley and Mrs Freeman be used between them, to overcome any undue feeling of formality when in private.  Sarah negotiated successful marriages for her children, which emphasised the Marlboroughs' political alliances. In 1698 their eldest daughter, Henrietta, married Francis, the heir of the Marlboroughs' ally Sidney Godolphin; in 1700 their second daughter, Anne, married Charles Spencer, from 1702 third Earl of Sunderland, her youngest daughter, Mary, married John Montagu, Marquess of Monthermer,

In 1702 Anne ascended the British thrones, and the Marlboroughs, held prime influence over the new monarch. Sarah became mistress of the robes, groom of the stole, keeper of the privy purse, and ranger of Windsor Park. Her total salary from these appointments was over £6000 a year, the rangership bringing with it Windsor Lodge for her use during her life. As with all her income and property Sarah managed these independently from her husband through trustees. In addition Sarah's daughters Henrietta, Anne, and Mary were made ladies of the bedchamber. Following Marlborough's successful summer campaign in the Netherlands, Anne made Marlborough a Duke, and Sarah now enjoyed the highest rank in the peerage. Sarah's influence over the Queen was of vital importance to Marlborough, who was often abroad on campaign but needed to be able to co-ordinate domestic affairs.

Following the battle of Blenheim in August 1704 the royal manor of Woodstock in Oxfordshire was given to Marlborough by act of parliament, and Anne promised that the Treasury would fund the construction of a great house. The detailed arrangements for the building works largely fell to Sarah to oversee. Lengthy disputes ensued over plans, the quality of the construction, and the quantity of public money available. In 1708, the queen granted her land adjacent to St James's Park, on which she built Marlborough House, to her own design, and realized by Sir Christopher Wren.

There was though a gradual alienation between the two women, which Sarah did not at first appreciate. Sarah was convinced of her own intellectual superiority over those around her, and expressed her opinions as if this were self-evident,  Anne for her part sought kindness and compassion from her close friend which Sarah had not the patience to provide. Instead Abigail Hill, an impoverished cousin of Sarah's whom she had introduced to court as a bedchamber woman, replaced her as the favourite of Anne. Sarah's interpretation of events at court, coloured by personal bitterness in turn shaped Marlborough's advice to the queen, who now felt continually harangued and sought escape.The relationship between Sarah and Anne further deteriorated following the formation of Harley's government and the tory victory in the 1710 election, on 17 January 1711 Sarah was stripped of all her offices at court.

In August 1719 the Marlboroughs moved to Blenheim, but the Duke enjoyed his new residence for less than three years; he died at Windsor Lodge on 15 June 1722.  Marlborough's will left her in possession of Blenheim and Marlborough House, in receipt of a huge jointure of £20,000 a year, and as the senior of the trustees to manage the Duke's legacies, including the income due to her eldest daughter, Henrietta, now Duchess of Marlborough in her own right. She died at Marlborough House in London on 18 October 1744 and  was buried in the chapel at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, on 3 November, alongside her husband, whose body was brought from Westminster Abbey as ordered in her will. She left twenty-seven landed estates in twelve counties with a capital value of £4 million, most of which was inherited by John Spencer.

Sarah Churchill was an extraordinary woman, she had a long and devoted marriage to John Churchill, and her close association with Queen Anne, set her amid many of the most tumultuous events in British history. Her temper contributed enormously to the eventual breach with Anne and her failure to exert political influence in the reigns of George I and George II. She was too self-righteous to maintain a position at court through flattery and dissimulation, but her ambition and ability kept her near the centre of British political life for seventy years.

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Auction Details

Tuesday 4 November 2025, 10.30am GMT
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