Description
Lely trained in the Dutch Republic but immigrated to England in the mid-1640s. His portrait style combining elegance with a vigorous sense for textures was influenced by that of Sir Anthony van Dyck. Lely was politically flexible: after working for Charles I (overthrown and executed in 1647) and then for the rising middle class (such as Alderman Lenéve), Lely worked again for the court after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. From the 1650s to his death, he was England's principal portrait painter and was widely described as "the best artist in England." He was knighted shortly before his death in 1680.
Provenance
Mr. P. and Mrs. I. Lenève, Norwich, 1759; Horace Walpole, Strawberry Hill, Middlesex, England, 1842 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, Strawberry Hill, May 18-21, 1842 [Catalog of the Classic Contents of Strawberry Hill Collected by Horace Walpole, p. 213; no. 61 was a portrait of the sitter's wife], no. 60; Mr. Downe [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sir Hugh Hume Campbell, Bart, prior to 1883-1894 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, Christie's, London, June 16, 1894, [Catalog, Christie, Manson & Woods] no. 34; David H. King [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, American Art Association, New York, March 31, 1905, no. 55; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1905, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
