Mikael Dahl

Her Majestry Queen Anne, represented as Athena, shown seated, wearing a lownecked silver-grey satin dress, with the medallion of the Ordet of St george on a blue ribbon hanging from her neck, her left arm resting on an ermine cape draped across a console table, the cape and table supporting the crown nd orb, her right hand holding a sprig of olive, her hair trimmed with pearls, within an architectural background.

The sprig of olive that Anne holds in her right hand - conventionally a symbol of peace - is notably one of the attributes of Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom. Anne's gown and her pearl headdress serve to reinforce this subtle connection with the Greek goddess. Athena is often depicted standing and holding a spear, and the absence of both of these in this portrait suggest that Dahl wished to play down references to female warrior, instead emphasising the peace-bearing wisdom of his monarch.
The representation of Queen Anne in this way uggests that the painting was done do commemorate some kind of peaceful achievement during her reign. The most likely event is the 1707 Act of Union since this had been accoplished without the use of force, unlike the Treaties of Utrecht of 1711-13, which marked the end of the wars of the Spanish Succession and had involved some belligerance. The age of the sitter in the portrait also appears to support an event of earlier rather than later date.

A related portrait of Queen Anne by Michael Dahl is held by the National Portrait Gallery, London (ref No: NPG 6187). Both portraits appear to be based upon the same drawing of the queen's head. The relevant catalogue for the National Portrait Gallery Collection (John Ingamells, "Later Stuart Portraits 1685 - 1714", NPG, 2010) has a useful section which lists and discusses all of the known portraits of Queen Anne. Whilst the portrait discussed in this document is listed (as attributed to Michael Dahl), the author of the catalogue has not appreciated its significance.