Peter Lely
With the Courtauld Gallery currently exhibiting the early work of Peter Lely in their exhibtion Peter Lely: a Lyrical Vision, we have compiled a small selection of prints after, or related to, Lely's paintings.
Of Dutch origin, Lely (1618-80) is regarded as 'one of the outstanding artists to have worked in seventeenth-century England'. His modern reputation 'is dependent on his portraits of the Restoration Court with its cast of beauties, mistresses and aristocratic rakes', and he 'made an immense impact on English portraiture- perhaps more than his celebrated contemporary Van Dyck'.
Following the Restoration of Charles II, Lely became Principal Painter to the King, a position he held from 1660 until his death in 1680.
This self-portrait, published during Lely's lifetime, commemorates his position as Principal Painter to the King:
Petrus Leley. Pictor Caroli II Magnae Brittanniae Regis.
P: Lely delin. A: de Jode Sculp.
[n.d. c.1666.]
Engraving, with very large margins. Collector's mark on verso. Plate 361 x 285mm. 14¼ x 11¼".
Ex Collection: Defer-Dumesnil, Pierre Defer (1798-1870). Lugt: 739.
[Ref: 24802] £180.00 (£216.00 incl.VAT)
Whilst this fine mezzotint shows Charles II:
Carolus II. Dei Gratia Angliae Scotias Francias et Hibernae Rex
[P.Lely pinxit. A.Blooteling fecit et ex 1680]
Mezzotint before artist's and engravers name added 349 x 254mm. 13¾" x 10". Trimmed to plate. Very small scratch in wig and background.
BM/O'D:78, CS:h.this state undescribed.
[Ref: 8431] £520
Lely's subjects included the king's 'idol'd mistresses', such as Nell Gwyn:
Madam Elinora Gwin.
Sr. P. Lely pinx.
[n.d. c.1690.]
Mezzotint, very rare. 350 x 254mm. 13¾ x 10". Cut; staining at bottom.
Ex Collection: R. Hobson of Hove. CS: 49.
[Ref: 25537] £280
Moll Davis:
Madame Davis.
P.Lely pinxit. R.Tompson excudit.
[n.d., c.1675.]
Mezzotint. 335 x 247mm. 13¼ x 9¾". Trimmed within plate and laid on separate sheet repaired tear right side.
CS: 11: ii of ii. Ex: Collection of The Hon. C. Lennox-Boyd.
[Ref: 17006] £280
and Barbara Villiers:
The Dutchess of Cleaveland.
S P Lely pinx: I.Beckett ex:
[n.d., c.1670.
Mezzotint. 340 x 250mm. Trimmed to plate, tear in bottom left corner.
CS: 25. Ex: Collection of The Hon. C. Lennox-Boyd.
[Ref: 3810]
He also painted the King's brother, the future James II:
His Royal Highness James Duke of York.
P.Lely Pinxit.
R.Tompson excudit. [n.d., c.1680.]
Mezzotint. 330 x 245mm. Trimmed to image.
CD: Tompson 50, State II of III.
[Ref: 3823] £250
But as well as painting the Royal family and court, 'Lely also notoriously painted Oliver Cromwell [...] who is reported to have asked Lely to portray him as he was- "pimples warts & every thing as you see me", rather than as he would like to be':
Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector. E Collectione W.m Powlet, Gen:
Peter Lely pinx.t 1653. I. Faber fecit 1740.
Mezzotint with very large margins. Plate 210 x 152mm. 8¼ x 6".
Portrait, bust in an oval frame, in armour with loose hair curling to shoulders and a plain white collar, directed to left, looking over left shoulder. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
Engraved from the painting now in Birmingham.
[Ref: 28062] £240
None of these portraits, however, feature in the Courtauld exhibition, which is dedicated to Lely's less well-known subject paintings. One of these is the Boy playing a Jew's Harp (Tate), which is described in the exhibition catalogue in the context of Northern Caravaggisti pictures of music-makers, a good example of which is this print after Ter Borch:
[Two men seated at a table.]
Terburg, Pinx. Van Somer, fec. [lower left of image]
F. de Wit Exc. [lower centre of image]
Mezzotint, scarce, 265 x 220mm (10½ x 8½"). Cut to image.
A man sits disconsolately at a table, absent-mindedly toying with his snuffbox, with a friend looking at him across the table and a standing figure holding a straw-covered wine bottle. Engraved by Dutch mezzotinter Jan van Somer (c.1645-99) after Gerard Ter Borch's 'Scene at an Inn' (c. 1648/50, private collection). Unusually, Van Somer also made another print of the same scene, but in reverse. It has been said of the painting from which this print derives that 'no painting in Ter Borch's oeuvre conveys with such overwhelming power the emotion of loneliness and despair'. The model for the seated figure on the right was a member of the Spanish delegation to Munster for the signing of the 1648 treaty which made the United Netherlands independent from Spain. The same sitter appears in Ter Borch's famous painting of the ratification of that treaty.
Hollstein: 62; for the painting see 'Gerard ter Borch' (NGA, Washington, 2005, cat.15).
[Ref: 23133]
This sort of imagery is also related to 'the work of a very different painting, his [Lely's] Spanish contemporary Murillo, whose celebrated images of beggars and street children [...] were probably inspired by the tastes of the community of Flemish merchants in Seville'. The following is a fine example of this aspect of Murillo's work:
[Spanish Peasant Boys]
[Murillo pinxt.] [W. Say sculpt.]
[London, Published June 1st. 1814 by T.Macdonald 39 Fleet Street.]
Fine mezzotint. Proof before letters. 660 x 417mm. 26" x 16½".
Mezzotint after the painting by Bartolomé Estebán Murillo (1618-1682) in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. It has been suggested that the two figures represent Industry and Idleness. Engraved by William Say (1768-1834).
[Ref: 8311] £380
Another painting in the Lely exhibition is his wonderful The Concert (Courtauld), which is also described as having been influenced by continental depictions of musicans, in this case those painted by Titian and Giorgione. The extent to which those two masters were linked can be seen by this print of a Titian musical group, mistakenly attributed to Giorgione on the print:
[The Concert.]
Peint par Giorgion. Grave a Dresde par Stoelzel.
Dessine par Vignaud le Jne. [n.d. c.1810.]
Engraving. Image 310 x 350mm. 12¼ x 13¾".
A depiction of Titian's "The Concert" attributed to Giorgione. Giorgio Vasari claimed that Giorgione was Titian's master thus demonstrating the close association and confusion behind said image as to who was the true artist.
[Ref: 13931] £90.00 (£108.00 incl.VAT)
The Dulwich Picture Gallery Boy as a Shepherd is also exhibited at the Courtauld, a picture which has been suggested to portray a number of different sitters, including, improbably, the poet Abraham Cowley:
Mr: Abraham Cowley.
W. Faithorne Sculp. 1687.
Engraving. Plate 263 x 171mm. 10¼ x 6¾". Laid on card.
Portrait of Abraham Cowley, bust length in an octagonal frame, long hair, wearing gown. Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) was an English poet. Frontispiece to his 'Works' (1687).
Fagan: p.30 [Plate B, first state].
[Ref: 24664] £90.00 (£108.00 incl.VAT)
But the catalogue recommends that 'if the Boy as a Shepherd is a portrait, it should be seen more in the light of Lely's depictions of children in Arcadia, such as [...] Henry Sidney, Earl of Romney as a beautiful shepherd boy, crook in hand':
Henry Sidney son to Robert Earle of Leicester.
P. Lely Eques pinxit.
Sold by Alex: Browne at ye blew belcony in little Queen Street [n.d., c.1684].
Mezzotint, 365 x 280mm. 14¼ x 11". Paper age toned.
Chaloner Smith: 35, state II of II.
[Ref: 9463] £190.00 (£228.00 incl.VAT)
'But, rather than representing even a highly prettified likeness like that of the young Earl of Romney, Lely's Boy is more probably an ideal'.
Perhaps it's just difficult to imagine a portrait painter as celebrated as Lely ever not directly representing a sitter. That's why the Shepherd Boy is so important to this exhibition, a gateway between what we know Lely so well for and what we are just now learning.
[all quotations from the exhibition catalogue Peter Lely: a Lyrical Vision by Carolin Campbell et al]
Of Dutch origin, Lely (1618-80) is regarded as 'one of the outstanding artists to have worked in seventeenth-century England'. His modern reputation 'is dependent on his portraits of the Restoration Court with its cast of beauties, mistresses and aristocratic rakes', and he 'made an immense impact on English portraiture- perhaps more than his celebrated contemporary Van Dyck'.
Following the Restoration of Charles II, Lely became Principal Painter to the King, a position he held from 1660 until his death in 1680.
This self-portrait, published during Lely's lifetime, commemorates his position as Principal Painter to the King:
Petrus Leley. Pictor Caroli II Magnae Brittanniae Regis.
P: Lely delin. A: de Jode Sculp.
[n.d. c.1666.]
Engraving, with very large margins. Collector's mark on verso. Plate 361 x 285mm. 14¼ x 11¼".
Ex Collection: Defer-Dumesnil, Pierre Defer (1798-1870). Lugt: 739.
[Ref: 24802] £180.00 (£216.00 incl.VAT)
Whilst this fine mezzotint shows Charles II:
[P.Lely pinxit. A.Blooteling fecit et ex 1680]
Mezzotint before artist's and engravers name added 349 x 254mm. 13¾" x 10". Trimmed to plate. Very small scratch in wig and background.
BM/O'D:78, CS:h.this state undescribed.
[Ref: 8431] £520
Lely's subjects included the king's 'idol'd mistresses', such as Nell Gwyn:
Sr. P. Lely pinx.
[n.d. c.1690.]
Mezzotint, very rare. 350 x 254mm. 13¾ x 10". Cut; staining at bottom.
Ex Collection: R. Hobson of Hove. CS: 49.
[Ref: 25537] £280
Moll Davis:
P.Lely pinxit. R.Tompson excudit.
[n.d., c.1675.]
Mezzotint. 335 x 247mm. 13¼ x 9¾". Trimmed within plate and laid on separate sheet repaired tear right side.
CS: 11: ii of ii. Ex: Collection of The Hon. C. Lennox-Boyd.
[Ref: 17006] £280
and Barbara Villiers:
S P Lely pinx: I.Beckett ex:
[n.d., c.1670.
Mezzotint. 340 x 250mm. Trimmed to plate, tear in bottom left corner.
CS: 25. Ex: Collection of The Hon. C. Lennox-Boyd.
[Ref: 3810]
He also painted the King's brother, the future James II:
P.Lely Pinxit.
R.Tompson excudit. [n.d., c.1680.]
Mezzotint. 330 x 245mm. Trimmed to image.
CD: Tompson 50, State II of III.
[Ref: 3823] £250
But as well as painting the Royal family and court, 'Lely also notoriously painted Oliver Cromwell [...] who is reported to have asked Lely to portray him as he was- "pimples warts & every thing as you see me", rather than as he would like to be':
Peter Lely pinx.t 1653. I. Faber fecit 1740.
Mezzotint with very large margins. Plate 210 x 152mm. 8¼ x 6".
Portrait, bust in an oval frame, in armour with loose hair curling to shoulders and a plain white collar, directed to left, looking over left shoulder. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
Engraved from the painting now in Birmingham.
[Ref: 28062] £240
None of these portraits, however, feature in the Courtauld exhibition, which is dedicated to Lely's less well-known subject paintings. One of these is the Boy playing a Jew's Harp (Tate), which is described in the exhibition catalogue in the context of Northern Caravaggisti pictures of music-makers, a good example of which is this print after Ter Borch:
Terburg, Pinx. Van Somer, fec. [lower left of image]
F. de Wit Exc. [lower centre of image]
Mezzotint, scarce, 265 x 220mm (10½ x 8½"). Cut to image.
A man sits disconsolately at a table, absent-mindedly toying with his snuffbox, with a friend looking at him across the table and a standing figure holding a straw-covered wine bottle. Engraved by Dutch mezzotinter Jan van Somer (c.1645-99) after Gerard Ter Borch's 'Scene at an Inn' (c. 1648/50, private collection). Unusually, Van Somer also made another print of the same scene, but in reverse. It has been said of the painting from which this print derives that 'no painting in Ter Borch's oeuvre conveys with such overwhelming power the emotion of loneliness and despair'. The model for the seated figure on the right was a member of the Spanish delegation to Munster for the signing of the 1648 treaty which made the United Netherlands independent from Spain. The same sitter appears in Ter Borch's famous painting of the ratification of that treaty.
Hollstein: 62; for the painting see 'Gerard ter Borch' (NGA, Washington, 2005, cat.15).
[Ref: 23133]
This sort of imagery is also related to 'the work of a very different painting, his [Lely's] Spanish contemporary Murillo, whose celebrated images of beggars and street children [...] were probably inspired by the tastes of the community of Flemish merchants in Seville'. The following is a fine example of this aspect of Murillo's work:
[Murillo pinxt.] [W. Say sculpt.]
[London, Published June 1st. 1814 by T.Macdonald 39 Fleet Street.]
Fine mezzotint. Proof before letters. 660 x 417mm. 26" x 16½".
Mezzotint after the painting by Bartolomé Estebán Murillo (1618-1682) in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. It has been suggested that the two figures represent Industry and Idleness. Engraved by William Say (1768-1834).
[Ref: 8311] £380
Another painting in the Lely exhibition is his wonderful The Concert (Courtauld), which is also described as having been influenced by continental depictions of musicans, in this case those painted by Titian and Giorgione. The extent to which those two masters were linked can be seen by this print of a Titian musical group, mistakenly attributed to Giorgione on the print:
Peint par Giorgion. Grave a Dresde par Stoelzel.
Dessine par Vignaud le Jne. [n.d. c.1810.]
Engraving. Image 310 x 350mm. 12¼ x 13¾".
A depiction of Titian's "The Concert" attributed to Giorgione. Giorgio Vasari claimed that Giorgione was Titian's master thus demonstrating the close association and confusion behind said image as to who was the true artist.
[Ref: 13931] £90.00 (£108.00 incl.VAT)
The Dulwich Picture Gallery Boy as a Shepherd is also exhibited at the Courtauld, a picture which has been suggested to portray a number of different sitters, including, improbably, the poet Abraham Cowley:
W. Faithorne Sculp. 1687.
Engraving. Plate 263 x 171mm. 10¼ x 6¾". Laid on card.
Portrait of Abraham Cowley, bust length in an octagonal frame, long hair, wearing gown. Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) was an English poet. Frontispiece to his 'Works' (1687).
Fagan: p.30 [Plate B, first state].
[Ref: 24664] £90.00 (£108.00 incl.VAT)
But the catalogue recommends that 'if the Boy as a Shepherd is a portrait, it should be seen more in the light of Lely's depictions of children in Arcadia, such as [...] Henry Sidney, Earl of Romney as a beautiful shepherd boy, crook in hand':
P. Lely Eques pinxit.
Sold by Alex: Browne at ye blew belcony in little Queen Street [n.d., c.1684].
Mezzotint, 365 x 280mm. 14¼ x 11". Paper age toned.
Chaloner Smith: 35, state II of II.
[Ref: 9463] £190.00 (£228.00 incl.VAT)
'But, rather than representing even a highly prettified likeness like that of the young Earl of Romney, Lely's Boy is more probably an ideal'.
Perhaps it's just difficult to imagine a portrait painter as celebrated as Lely ever not directly representing a sitter. That's why the Shepherd Boy is so important to this exhibition, a gateway between what we know Lely so well for and what we are just now learning.
[all quotations from the exhibition catalogue Peter Lely: a Lyrical Vision by Carolin Campbell et al]
