Sir Peter Lely

PROVENANCE

Private Collection, England
Fergus Hall, London

Dr. Diana Dethloff confirmed the attribution to Sir Peter Lely, as a substantially autograph work datable to the early 1660s.

Peter Lely is a painter of Dutch origin who spent almost all his career in England and was naturalized in 1662. He was born Soest, Westphalia, on September 14, 1618 and died in London, November 30, 1680)

His family name was originally van der Faes, and the name Lely is said to have come from a lily carved on the house in The Hague where his father was born. Lely was born in Germany (where his father, a captain of infantry, was stationed) and trained in Haarlem. He moved to England in the early 1640s (early biographers say 1641 or 1643), and although he first painted figure compositions in landscapes (Sleeping Nymphs, c.1650, Dulwich Picture Gal., London), he soon turned to the more profitable field of portraiture.

He was among the premier portrait painters of his time, documenting prominent figures of the London aristocracy.