Kit-cat portrait

For other items called Kit Kat or Kit Cat see Kit Kat (disambiguation).

Sir John Vanbrugh in Godfrey Kneller's Kit-cat portrait, considered one of Kneller's finest portraits.

A kit-cat portrait or kit-kat portrait is a particular size of portrait, less than half-length, but including the hands. The name originates from a series of portraits which were commissioned from Godfrey Kneller for members of the Kit-Cat Club, to be hung in their meeting place at Barn Elms. Each canvas was thirty-six inches long, and twenty-eight wide The size is said to have been determined because the dining-room ceiling of the Kit-Kat Club was too low for half-size portraits of the members.

References

 I came across the term 'Kit Kat' in E.F.Benson's  Lucia in London Georgie speaking to Daisy Quantock about the inheritance from the Aunt of Lucia's husband, on being told of a Portrait by Sargent Georgie's response was 'Oh is it kit kat or full length?