Sir Peter Lely (14 September 1618 – 7 December 1680)
was a painter of Dutch origin whose career was nearly all spent in England, where he became the dominant portrait painter to the court.
Life
Lely was born Pieter van der Faes to Dutch parents in
Soest in
Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
, where his father was an officer serving in the armed forces of the
Elector of Brandenburg
This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the period of time that Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the primary constituent states of the H ...
. Lely studied painting in
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
, where he may have been apprenticed to
Pieter de Grebber. He became a master of the
Guild of Saint Luke
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was iden ...
in Haarlem in 1637. He is reputed to have adopted the surname "Lely" (also occasionally spelled
Lilly) from a
heraldic
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...
lily
''Lilium'' () is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. M ...
on the
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aest ...
of the house where his father was born in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
.
He arrived in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in around 1643, His early English paintings, mainly mythological or religious scenes, or portraits set in a pastoral landscape, show influences from
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh ...
and the Dutch
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
.
Lely's portraits were well received, and he succeeded Anthony van Dyck (who had died in 1641) as the most fashionable portrait artist in England. He became a freeman of the
Painter-Stainers' Company in 1647 and was portrait artist to
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
. His talent ensured that his career was not interrupted by Charles's execution, and he served
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...
, whom he painted "warts and all", and
Richard Cromwell
Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who was the second and last Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell.
On his father's deat ...
. In the years around 1650 the poet Sir
Richard Lovelace wrote two poems about Lely – ''Peinture'' and "See what a clouded majesty ..."
After the
English Restoration
The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to ...
in 1660, Lely was appointed as
Charles II's
Principal Painter in Ordinary in 1661, with a stipend of £200 per year, as Van Dyck had enjoyed in the previous Stuart reign.
Lely became a naturalised English subject in 1662. The young
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...
came to London to follow an apprenticeship with Lely before being given a place at
Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
by
Richard Busby.
Demand was high, and Lely and his large workshop were prolific.
After Lely painted a sitter's head, Lely's pupils would often complete the portrait in one of a series of numbered poses. As a result, Lely is the first English painter who has left "an enormous mass of work", although the quality of studio pieces is variable. As
Brian Sewell
Brian Alfred Christopher Bushell Sewell (; 15 July 1931 – 19 September 2015) was an English art critic. He wrote for the ''Evening Standard'' and had an acerbic view of conceptual art and the Turner Prize. ''The Guardian'' described him as " ...
put it:
Among his most famous paintings are a series of 10 portraits of ladies from the Royal court, known as the
Windsor Beauties, formerly at
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original c ...
but now at
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
; a similar series for
Althorp; a series of 12 of the admirals and captains who fought in the
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo-Dutch War or the Second Dutch War (4 March 1665 – 31 July 1667; nl, Tweede Engelse Oorlog "Second English War") was a conflict between England and the Dutch Republic partly for control over the seas and trade routes, whe ...
, known as the "
Flagmen of Lowestoft", now mostly owned by the
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...
in
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
; and his ''
Susannah and the Elders
Susanna (; : "lily"), also called Susanna and the Elders, is a narrative included in the Book of Daniel (as chapter 13) by the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches and Eastern Orthodox Churches. It is one of the additions to Daniel, pl ...
'' at
Burghley House
Burghley House () is a grand sixteenth-century English country house near Stamford, Lincolnshire. It is a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, built and still lived in by the Cecil family. The exterior largely retains its Elizabet ...
.
His most famous non-portrait work is probably ''Nymphs by a Fountain'' in
Dulwich Picture Gallery.
Lely played a significant role in introducing the
mezzotint to Britain, as he realized its possibilities for publicising his portraits. He encouraged Dutch mezzotinters to come to Britain to copy his work, laying the foundations for the English mezzotint tradition.
Lely lived from about 1651 to 1680 at No. 10-11 Great Piazza,
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
. He was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...
in 1679.
Lely died soon afterwards at his
easel in Covent Garden, while painting a portrait of the Duchess of Somerset. Sir Peter was buried at
St Paul's Church, Covent Garden.
Legacy
In his lifetime, Lely was known as a skillful connoisseur of art.
His collection of
Old Masters, including
Veronese,
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...
,
Claude Lorrain
Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in It ...
and
Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...
, and a fabulous collection of drawings, was broken up and sold after his death, raising the immense sum of £26,000. Some items in it which had been acquired by Lely from the Commonwealth dispersal of Charles I's art collections, such as the
Lely Venus
The Lely Venus is a marble statue of the crouching Venus type. It is a copy of a Hellenistic original by Doidalses of Bithynia and dates from the Antonine period.
History
The statue is first recorded in the Gonzaga collection in Mantua, wh ...
, were re-acquired by the Royal Collection.
Amongst Lely's pupils were
John Greenhill and
Willem Wissing.
He was replaced as court portraitist by Sir
Godfrey Kneller
Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to English and British monarchs from ...
, also a German-born Dutchman, whose style drew from Lely's but reflecting later Continental trends. Between them they established the basic English portrait style followed by less fashionable painters for decades.
A horse was also named after him, finishing fourth in the
1996 Grand National.
Style
Lely was first and foremost a
portraitist. He painted both men and women, but with a greater inclination towards the latter, whose
cleavage was often accentuated, sometimes to the point of having one
breast
The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues.
In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and sec ...
fully exposed (such as in
Margaret Hughes's earlier portrait, seen below).
Lely also occasionally painted certain historical scenes, seen above.
The loss in 1929 of a "family portrait by Sir Peter Lely" was reported in the fire at Pit House, Farley Heath, Albury.
Gallery
Earl and Countess Oxford.jpg, Earl and Countess of Oxford
Portrait of Sir Robert Worsley.jpg, Sir Robert Worsley, 3rd Baronet
Lady Mary Fane.jpg, Lady Mary Fane by Sir Peter Lely
Lely Queen Mary II.jpg, Queen Mary II
Peter Lely - Portrait of a man, thought to be George Booth, Lord Delamere - Google Art Project.jpg, Portrait of a man, thought to be George Booth, Lord Delamere, 1660
Sir Peter Lely - Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Strickland, née Pile - Google Art Project.jpg, Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Strickland, née Pile
Catherine of Braganza, Queen of England.jpg, Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...
, Queen of England 1665
Lely, Sir Peter - Portrait of a Lady with a Blue Drape - Google Art Project.jpg, Portrait of a Lady with a Blue Drape, circa 1660
Abraham Cowley by Sir Peter Lely.jpg, Abraham Cowley, c. 1665–66
Sir Peter Lely 002.jpg, Two ladies from the Lake family, 1650.
Peter Lely - Diana Kirke, later Countess of Oxford - Google Art Project.jpg, Diana Kirke, later Countess of Oxford, 1665
Lely, Sir Peter - A Boy as a Shepherd - Google Art Project.jpg, A Boy as a Shepherd
Charles II of England.jpeg, Charles II of England, c. 1675
Jane, Duchess of Norfolk.jpg, Jane Howard, Duchess of Norfolk
Jane Howard, Duchess of Norfolk (née Bickerton; 1643/44 – 28 August 1693), was the second wife of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk.
Bickerton came from a very modest social background. Her parents were Anne Hester and Robert Bickerton, Gentle ...
Dudleia Cullum, née North, Lady Cullum.jpeg, Dudley, Daughter of Sr. Henry North, Bart., Wife of Sir Thomas Cullum
Sir Thomas Fanshawe of Jenkins (1628–1705) and His Wife, Margaret (1635–1674).jpeg, Sir Thomas Fanshawe of Jenkins and his wife Margaret
Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland with her son, Charles Fitzroy, as Madonna and Child by Sir Peter Lely (2).jpg, Madonna and Child by Sir Peter Lely
Sir William Ashburnham by Peter Lely.jpg, Sir William Ashburnham
Peter Lely - Lady Frances Savile, Later Lady Brudenell - Google Art Project.jpg, Lady Frances Savile, Later Lady Brudenell
Lely - Portrait of an Unknown Woman - Tate.jpg, Portrait of Margaret Hughes c. 1670.
Charlotte Fitzroy painted by Peter Lely.jpg, Portrait of Charlotte Lee, Countess of Lichfield 1674
Citations
General references
*
*
*
* The entry includes a bibliography.
*
*
*
*
External links
The Oliver Millar Archive research papers of
Oliver Millar, British art historian and a leading authority on Peter Lely
*
Self-portraitfrom the
National Portrait Gallery
Biographyfrom the
J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa.
The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...
Biographyfrom the
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...
, Greenwich
Biographyfrom the
Web Gallery of Art
The Web Gallery of Art (WGA) is a virtual art gallery website. It displays historic European visual art, mainly from the Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance periods, available for educational and personal use.
Overview
The website contains reproduct ...
Sir Peter Lely at the WikiGallery.orgHistory collectionfrom Frits Lugt's ''Les marques de collections de dessins & d'estampes''
Nympths by a Fountainfrom the
Dulwich Picture Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lely, Peter
1618 births
1680 deaths
People from Soest, Germany
17th-century English painters
English male painters
Knights Bachelor
British Baroque painters
Principal Painters in Ordinary
Dutch Golden Age painters
Dutch male painters
Painters from Haarlem
German emigrants to the Dutch Republic
Dutch emigrants to the Kingdom of England