During most if not all of his approximately four-year stay in England, Godefridus Schalcken resided in York Buildings in the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. At that time, the late seventeenth century, this neighborhood lay at the western edge of London and actually belonged to the City of Westminster in the County of Middlesex – part of the greater “metropolis of London” (see Fig. 3). In essence, it was a fashionable suburb close to Whitehall Palace and St. James's Palace. The parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields itself was a noted center for the production of goods and services for the nearby court. It is hardly accidental then that Schalcken settled there, for this location afforded him opportunities to secure work from distinguished and moneyed clientele.

One such patron was Francis Kynnesman (c. 1640–1704), who lived on George Street in York Buildings. Most likely in the fall of 1694 or perhaps the winter of 1694–95, Kynnesman commissioned Schalcken to paint a portrait of his second wife, Anne Clarke (1666–1697), whom he had married on or about 1 November 1694. It seems reasonable to assume that Kynnesman's and Schalcken's status as neighbors played a role in the former's choice of the latter to paint her. Although the portrait itself no longer survives, it was reproduced as a mezzotint in 1698 (Fig. 9), in other words, roughly two years after Schalcken had left London. The printmaker was none other than John Smith, England's most important mezzotinter during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It is indeed very fortunate that this mezzotint was made: not only does it document the appearance of a lost painting but its inscription provides sufficient clues to piece together the circumstances of Kynnesman's and Clarke's lives, and in doing so, shed much light on the social circumstances of Schalcken's patrons in London.

The print's inscription mentions Schalcken and Smith but the principal lines, flanking coats-of-arms, are dedicated to the sitter: Anna, Uxor Francisci Kynnesman Generosi; Filia & una è Cohaeredibus, Guilielmi Clarke, de Soham, in Comitatu Cantabrigiae, Generosi (Anne, wife of Francis Kynnesman, gentleman; daughter and one of the joint heirs of William Clarke, gentleman, of Soham in the County of Cambridge). later, on 5 December 1678.