As court painter, could he ring the monarch? (7)
I believe the answer is:
kneller
'as court painter could he' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'ring the monarch?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'ring' could be 'knell' (knelling is a kind of ringing) and 'knell' is found in the answer.
'monarch?' could be 'er' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina, British Queen) and 'er' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for kneller that I've seen is " Sir Godfrey - - , painter".)